Reply #17: Photovoltaics are indeed very elegant. [View All]

Anything solid state is, really.

However diversification is a good thing, to get one over the occasional string of cloudy days.

And wind can be elegant, too: one in a winter climate might put up a windmill with the intent to use the power only when the wind blows -- to heat the house. Now, with current fuel prices making heat much less expensive than electricity, that may seem a waste, but such an arangement would provide heat exactly when it is needed -- when winter crosswinds are pulling air through the house. The elegance in this is that there's nearly nothing on the electronic ends required for such a setup, just a matched load fed directly from the AC, thus reducing the total energy input for the construction.