[Metamike]

For those that are considering solar cells for energy - remember that the sun gives very little power during the winter months if you are in higher or lower latitudes. You will be surprised by how much less energy is available during the middle of december. To compensate, you might want to have a wind generator as well. That being said you will need to down size your electrical needs, unless you want to spend really loads of money just on power. I suggest that you think of using electricity to power diode lights, charge small batteries and at the most your laptop!

Unless you figure a way to make free energy from the vacuum, you can forget about generating heat, powering a car and that sort of stuff. Batteries just can not deliver.