solar energy

Hot water heating is the single largest use of domestic electricity, so cutting down on the amount of electricity used for that is the single biggest change you can make to your electricity consumption.

The money saved in reduced electricity bills can pay for the installation of the solar hot water heater within 5 to 7 years, but they last much much longer than that as there are no moving parts. You can calculate your likely payback time here http://www.mirak.co.nz/SavingCalc.php

The most expensive part of an alternative power plant i.e. wind, solar or water are the batteries. They have to be replaced every 10 years or so. And they cost an arm and a leg.

What if the government would force the power companies that they will have to allow everybody to feed energy back into the grid. Technically no problem. You would have a meter in your house which would measure what you produced and what you used. You would either have to pay the balance or would get some money back if you would have produced more than you used.

No need for expensive batteries!

Cheers