Anyone off grid?  We are looking at building our new home off-grid, since the cost to bring in an electric line is a lot more.  However, we were wondering if anyone had problems in qualifying for a mortgage with it being an off grid home.  Thats something we haven't investigated yet.

You might want to ask that same question over on the Wind & Sun Forum. I know there are a couple of people living off grid. My recollection is the house has to be wired to code (even if nothing is connected to it) for your area to help with the mortgage. That way if the bank ever foreclosed they could just connect to the grid, just don't tell them the cost to run the lines. I would bet you would get a different answer from each lender though.

Surf / subscribe to HomePower magazine. That bunch has been doing the off grid thing for decades. From what I've read, there are some progressive mortgage companies willing to deal with / account for off grid homes. You probably need to be in CA, OR, WA, or CO to find one of those.

If you have no prior experience with renewable / alternative energy / off grid living you have a LOT of homework to do.

The national electric code (NEC - most building codes defer to NEC) now covers these systems in Article 690. Be certain you or any installer complies with that.

For Photovoltaic figure $10 per peak Watt plus batteries enough for 3-5 days of use at no more than 50% depth of discharge. Other optons are wind and Microhydro, but they are extremely site specific and maintenance-intensive.

For the typical American all-electric home, the numbers get big and ugly, fast.

The batteries alone might cost enough to bring in power lines. With power lines, assuming you live in one of the 37 or so states with a reasonable net metering law you could do the green thing with alternative energy by offsetting your use with onsite generation using the grid as your battery.