They just had a special issue on energy-saving construction, including solar, super-insulation, groundwater heating, etc.
I have experience with solar construction, as our first house was passive solar.
Here's the deal, just my opinion:
Solar electric cells don't work very well. You can use them for backup but as a primary source they are dicey. Effective storage is the weak link.
Solar hot water heating is fairly effective, but an even better method is via ground water loop (geothermal). You'd have to dig deep, below the frost line, and you need electricity to pump and circulate the water, but you don't need to heat it.
The number one thing you need to do is super-insulate your house. That means digging into the south side of a hill (make sure your contractor understands groundwater and proper drainage around subsurface walls), no windows on the north, closets, garage, carport etc. on the north, few windows on east and west, and glass wall on the south - with movable insulated shutters to avoid heat loss at night. Then get the R-factor up as high as you possibly can - super thick walls with optimal insulation material, thermal and moisture barriers, triple-pane windows with nitrogen, double-doored entryway to keep warm air from escaping.
If the house is super-sealed you will need to provide for air exchange.
You need to read up on ALL of this before you build, and actually before you interview an architect so you can ask intelligent questions. Fine Homebuilding is the best place to start - Taunton Press, which publishes FH, also has books and links to well known architects & builders.
Good luck!
Thank you so much for the feedback. This is very helpful. My hubby wants me to do the building. I don’t want to waste my time doing it if it isn’t going to be very efficient.
Right now we have a windmill that produces on average 1/4 to 1/3 of our electricity. And 2 wood stoves with propane back up. We have looked into heating our water with the wood stoves but, haven’t really study it out yet.
Check this out, Cansolair, Inc. a company set up by a Newfoundlander ~
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bRZvAAqzXIw&feature=player_embedded