A fellow on a fly fishing BB who lives near Wenatchee reports that he lives off the grid and uses solar power exclusively. It costs him a lot to be "green" since Chelan PUD is one of the four cheapest electric rates in the US. Even there he says he has been unable to break even on cost because the life span of his storage batteries and some other essential parts required replacement before he could break even. Extremely important, he said, is that anyone thinking of going off the grid needs to be committed to reducing their overall electric consumption by about 90%. He heats with wood in the winter, has solar design for as much shade as possible in the hot summer, etc. He didn't define break even, but if it means equal to the costs from his local utility, it's doubly hard for him since Chelan costs about half what most west side utilities charge.

Sg