What You Can Do
Most household appliances and lights use only a little electricity easily supplied by the sun, wind, or micro-hydro. Solar electric (or wind or hydro) homes convert most of their power to 120 volts AC, to use as needed for household appliances and lights. Most common uses are lights, water pump, TV-VCR-satellite, computer, stereo, vacuum cleaner, kitchen appliances, sewing machine, power tools, and office equipment. Even high wattage appliances like microwave oven, hair dryer, toaster, and efficient clothes washers consume little power because their actual running time is short. Water pumps including deep well pumps up to ½ horsepower are used. As mentioned before, electric or propane refrigerators and electric freezers are selected carefully to save energy in a solar home.
What You Cannot Do
No major electric heating appliances should be used. Electric heat, electric hot water, electric cookstove/oven, electric heated clothes dryer, and air conditioner account for 80% of typical monthly utility bills. It is absolutely NOT practical to operate major heating appliances with electricity. They use from twenty to one hundred times the power your TV uses. Other fuels produce heat at much lower cost.
Use wood or propane fueled furnaces (wood preferred for renewable independence), propane cookstoves, ovens, and water heaters; use gas fired clothes dryers (don't forget a rope in the sun). Build homes with passive solar heat design to save heating fuel.
Air conditioning is too energy intensive to be practical other than a window unit in a very large solar power system. Once again, evaporative cooling--swamp coolers (used mostly in the west)--work well in non-humid areas
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