This was a fun read, and I'll keep checking this one for a while. As for energy, I've heard a great off-grid set-up is a wind & solar system. Imagine a crisp cold winter day with the sun blaring outside, needing sunglasses to be outdoors, and your solar panels cranking the amps into your batteries. Or an overcast dank spring day, fat rain drops pounding your windows, and the wind blowing your turbine keeping the batteries topped off. Or you can just be hooked to the grid and flip a switch.