I found an interesting site today that checks with the weather gods in your area to find out if solar power would work in your area. I live in a cloudy area so I wasn’t sure but I put in my details and it came up with a rating of “good”. “Good” isn’t actually all that wonderful. It was about halfway on their scale but doable for part of my energy needs. The program then helps calculate cost. It actually isn’t very good at that. It quoted me $99,000 for my system. Solar is expensive but not that expense. You can also find links to contractors in your area. (One’s automated system quoted me much less than $99,000). Fun to play with and see what would work for you.
Mine would only cost $25,000.00 to provide 50% of my electricity, according to this thing. Still a bit high! I wish I was ready to harness all the wind power that is hurling by today!
Also, some places have options for alternative power sources from their power company. Here in Portland, OR, you can pay a little bit extra each month (~$8 for most people they estimate) and get all your power from geothermal, wind, and hydro power sources.