We are shopping for the house we hope to die in and take solar siting into consideration. Our electric bill is currently $400 – $600 a month and we expect it to go up.

With these new “smart meters” we expect electrical usage to be eventually limited or rationed in some way. Especially when our Dear Leader declares oil drilling evil (thanks BP) and causes another energy crises. I want to be able to use electricity like our Dear Leader plays golf.

Frankly, I would like a well as well so we “could” go completely off-grid if necessary or desired. Mmm, how are areas like Cielo and Santa Luz when it comes to drilling wells?

Frankly, how are they about solar panels. It looks like Cielo will let you put up enough panels to light a stadium, but I’m not so sure about Santa Luz. They just had a community bulletin about solar installs needing to pass guidelines and be approved. Can they satisfy legal requirements by saying you can have one panel, but only one, or limit the size of your array to, say, 1KW, when you want an 8KW system? Sure, sure, I could track down the right person to ask through a slew of phone calls, but there always seems to be someone here who knows…