Well, finally something I can dig my teeth into - and possibly give some advice on to those that might think about doing something like this. I worked in this industry years ago, and continued with it years after as a hobby AND, I also have a RFC in to IEEE.
-First off, Solar is still and probably will always be a pipe dream until serious efforts to harvest, produce and increase the efficiency of solar cells. Fear not however, efforts are always under way and in many cases the prices are dropping on mass produced panels and work great in areas where sun is plentiful.
You need MANY days of FULL sun for solar to be worth while.
-Second, not many people understand how much power they use in their house. The average house would require more solar panels on their roof to produce enough power to become 'independent'.
The cool thing about this is, many times you will produce more power than your batteries or usage will need depending on your area, amount of sun collected (efficiency of panels x quantity of panels). You can then tie into your electrical grid and 'push power' to the power company. Thus, in actual - earning money.
The cost of purchasing, installing and maintaining a solar array is VERY expensive in comparison to the costs of electricity for most.
Solar however, still - serves many purposes and at the very least is affordable TODAY to supplement a persons current electrical needs.
I love the discussion of 'green' energy. Which usually results in a discussion of the use of solar or natural gases.
The usage of natural gas is not green. Research it, and you will find that there is much effort and much impact to using natural gas which in itself will eventually deplete. A good idea would be to get this from waste fills whereas they could produce 'some' gas that is usable for 'some' use of fuel in 'some' way...but that really is as far as NG goes as far as being 'green'.
Solar is definitely completely renewable. If you live in a sunny sunny area, it eventually will be worth it if you have a large enough roof or property 'footprint' unobstructed by trees and buildings......eventually.
However...keep in mind that no trees means no oxygen. A large land footprint means building out and not up. Wasted land necessitating the need for more trees to go bye bye and thus - urban sprawl.
Next - Solar as it is right now, just barely out of infancy really... is VERY harsh to produce. The energy to produce a solar panel (at least 5 years ago) at the average plant was amazing. It was the equal of knocking down an entire forest for a toothpick.
There are also toxic by products produced many times in the making, coating and screen printing of the cells themselves.
I wont put you to sleep with the other logistics surrounding keeping up a system, batteries that eventually need tossed and replaced etc etc etc.
The only true 'green' energy is nuclear. Eventually the uneducated will realize this and let this happen, but until then we will continue to pollute our lungs with horrible chemicals that are also poisoning our waters for THOUSANDS of years. Nuclear, even with an accident - would only affect few...could be cleaned up and has the same results as far as air and water poisons as our current infrastructure. However, it would affect far fewer people. The problem is, who gets affected? The 'not in my back yard' thing..
So - there's my 2 cents +