Solar electricity? Solar hot water? Wind? Weatherization? Efficient lights? Day lighting? Electric conditioning? Automated control? Heating? Geothermal?
If you are going to spend your money to make an impact on your energy use what is the best thing to do? Its a big question but it really comes down to "what have you already done"? It makes the most sense to work on efficiency first, that way you use less [fossil fuel] and need a smaller amount of renewable energy as offset. However, utilizing the various local, state, and federal incentives is important so that may be the driving decision. We also need to recognize easiest to implement. But hey, if its PV panels you want on your roof, as ego boo, then have at it. We love distributed generation. Just remember, it doesn't stop there and the real question is: what is your per capita energy profile? You may be higher than others, or lower, but as long as you are lower than you were a year ago that's all I ask.
I'll followup this post with a rules of thumb perspective, e.g.for $20k of each type energy project what is my impact?
