hthomp, I would recommend that you consider berming in as much of the building(s) as possible. The thermal stability will do wonders for your power conservation. You can use skylights for some natural lighting. Perhaps you could look at building a Monolithic Dome as they are pretty solid.

Don't forget to collect rainwater. If you have old water heaters or can get you hands on them, use them for storage. Don't forget to flush them out really well before use.

Standard Disclaimer

my $.02