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
I have a house built in 1985 and it isn't bad for insulation. We have NG for heat and domestic use, and the cost is reasonable for this area. Electricity for A/C but that is only used occasionally. Not too much this year especially because it's been "a year without summer" in this area. So much for global warming, I guess. Anything new I build will probably be on the water somewhere down south. SC is looking pretty good right now. We'll look at passive solar ideas if we get to that point (finances are an issue right now). I like natural lighting, so skylights and open spaces would be of interest (which is what I hear a certain ranch down in Crawford has, as opposed to a mansion in Tennessee I've heard about).