I don't have any plans to hook up to the grid, I'm thinking along the lines of the "full redneck monty".<img src="/forums/images/graemlins/notooth.gif" alt="" /> I'm talking about a stand alone system, of a few lights, wiring, plugs and small appliances. Something I can take with me. I rent my home, and power is a BIG part of my monthly outlay. In winter, it runs about 30% of my overhead. I can buy most of this stuff very inexpensively through my business, as I sell RV parts and accessories.
This all started when I was married and owned my home. We had an open-loop watersource heat pump which discharged into a stream bed. I always wanted to supplement the water level with the sprinkler system, then run a re-circulating waterfall deal with wind power and a small pump. In that situation, it wouldn't matter if it wasn't running all the time 'cause the wind happened to stop.


OR..... another idea is a guy in a neighboring town, who tunneled under his neighbors home and tapped their phone line and used it's power to run low voltage lights throughout his home. Finally got caught when his house was on fire, and the power company couldn't get the lights to go off. They figured out where his power source was when the neighbor's phone rang and his lights dimmed. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/lol.gif" alt="" />