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["Wendy" <crazygardens AT verizon.net>]

> I visualize a Heartwood system hooked to the grid. When the sun shines, 
> the meter turns backwards after the batteries are full. When the sun does 
> not shine, first the juice in the batteries power essentials, then we go 
> back to the grid.

Does your electric co. allow "net-metering"?  (Net-metering is when you are 
charged the "net" total of power-used minus power-sent to the grid.)  Many 
power companies do not.  Some will allow your excess power to flow into the 
grid through a seperate meter, then they "buy" it from you at the current 
rate they purchase power from other power companies, which isn't much.  Then 
they sell you power at standard retail prices.  The home power plant rarely 
makes enough to cover the cost of the extra meter and power relay usually 
required for grid interconnected systems.  (This relay automatically 
disconnects your power system from the grid in the event the grid is down. 
This prevents power company technicians from getting fried off your system 
when they are working on the power lines and have disconnected the mains 
from the lines and thus think the lines are dead.)  This is why most home RE 
people opt to store and use their own power, and switch their house to the 
grid only during long periods of decreased power generation.


> I cannot see using solar as a stand-alone system. My planer has a five 
> horsepower motor. Batteries would never handle the starting load.


Do batteries start your car?


> All that said, small urban or rural homes carefully designed for energy 
> efficiency and including very energy-efficient appliances can exist solely 
> on solar. Yes, it require lifestyle change.

For your heat you still need to rely on wood or fossil fuels.  If you have 
animals, (poultry manure works great) have you thought of a methane 
generating digester?  Many homes in Asian countries rely on methane from a 
digester to provide cooking and heating fuel.

Wendy