Where is your location, if you don't mind saying in a general sense (desert, mountain, plains, etc.)? Available sunlight and average annual hours of sunshine have a big impact on feasibility. Where I am, I sure don't want to be caught without a reliable energy source in the dead of winter. A fireplace won't do it for heating needs when it's zero or so for days on end with snow and no sun.
One way to overcome crappy sunlight is to use series ganged panels for up to 96Vdc, to feed a 12Vdc battery system.
I used the 12Vdc battery bank because I had the inverter for free/low cost.
The Outback charge controller manages the 96v PV to 12v battery bank very well. I get a charge even on cloudy days.
Given unlimited funds, I would have a 48Vdc inverter with better than the stepped square wave.
/johnny
First thing I did was to go through the house and kill the inductive loads or change the starters for soft-start and measured the PF of everything.
I looked at every device that consumed electricity in the house. I have a spiral notebook full of notes.
We achieved 40% savings by upgrading/deleting crap that was designed in the 1950s.
I have carried that to an extreme, perhaps, as NASCAR has done, but tried to do it at low cost, and NO change in my expected lifestyle. When I want to read, I don't want dim light. When I want a computer, I don't want 30 bogo-mips.
I could preach about energy and stewardship all day long. ;)
/johnny
Are you building new? You would be surprised how a well design home with modern insulation can hold heat. Some small super efficient cabins can stretch a cord all winter.
I have some good calculators for solar hours, what’s your zip? I also have a great program that allows you to enter all of you loads, and all of your inputs (wind/solar/micro hydro/generator) and it will show at what times of day/year you are short on input or storage. Contact me if you would like to know more. andrew@acronymdesigns.com