Hi all   Decided to back up a little and go over the ideas for sustainability that I was and still am using before taking my PDC.   Rainwater collection has been going on for 3 years at my 2 acres in Southern Minnesota.  There is a 32x36 pole shed on the property and I collect water off that roof into eight 275 gallon IBC tanks ( cube shaped plastic tanks in a metal cage).  No well on the property and I will probably never need one.  Also for the last 3 years I have two 100 watt solar panels, with 2 deep cycle 12 volt marine batteries, inverter and charge controller that I use to charge my electric motorcycle that I use to run errands on weather permitting.  I also charge a  battery powered lawn mower and weed whacker.  It is a wonderful feeling getting things done using solar power.  Solar powered snow thrower is next.  Also to get around the electricical inspectors I plan to put my solar set up on a 4 wheeled weather proofed cart that is independent of any structure but still useable for my usual solar charging and such a set up would be available in case of a power outage where I just use a fan on low, a 3 watt bulb in a lamp, and I plug in my modum, router, and laptop, so a power outage doesn't affect me much.  Got all the "how to" info off of youtube.   Now I am off to reasearch the NiFe batteries ( for when I go to a bigger solar set up ) that Mike Haydon is talking about in a post just below this one.   I am really enjoying this site as there is plenty of useful info to be found here.