Heh...Sundanzer 8.1 cu. ft. freezer — up to about $4 per month in very sunny areas at most for golf cart batteries (based on only 5-year battery life, can go to about 10 years for one who thinks). The freezer’s the big energy consumer in a properly built house with the best choices in appliances. Microwaves, washers, etc., don’t run long enough in a day to consume much. And no dryers, of course.
But that kind of low energy usage only happens in off-grid systems in very sunny, high altitude places, self-built by nerds like myself—not grid-tied systems for government welfare for politically correct, suburban, government-job-dependent fat cats (way too expensive and improperly designed).
...same with wind turbines. Those work in places that are downright scary with high winds, and only homebuilt monsters with large alternators on trailer hubs are tough enough to last.
Verdict: government-funded, corporate-government heads are retarded. Rejected, impoverished techies do rule.
Yep, heating with wood this year. You have to burn a _lot_ of it. I'm benefiting from the Emerald Ash Borer. However, lots of people seem to thing that just because their tree had been dead for a couple of years that the wood does not have to be seasoned.