Quote Originally Posted by rfeiller
heating and lighting are big items. my pumps (water and air pumps) are 20watts each. my lights are 1000watts each (most use shop fl. lites that uses much less power and produce much less light). heating is 3000 watts and i live in what is considered a moderate climit in the San Francisco, Bay area. so every power need has to be included. solar and wind are dependent on days and duration of sunlight for solar and days of steady wind for wind power.
If you get a fair bit of sun, then there is no reason you shouldn't be able to tap into the suns heating power. I have read information about how much solar energy strikes the earth on a sunny day. I think it's around 1kw equivalent per square meter.

As for lighting, I think your best alternate for lower power usage would have to be LED, color corrected to the specific spectrum you need placed very closely to the plants.