For those that have successfully gone off-grid, how many watts?

Here is an attempt at the whole house off grid needs.

My usage has traditionally run at about 1200kwh per month.

Thats about 40 kwh per day.

To cover this usage, I would need to consider roghly this:

Solar Panels / PV:

an example: 170w panels over 4 net hours of peak performance = 680 watt hours 40000/680 = 59 panels needed!

so, 60 panels at about 800$ each = 48,000$ !!!
Batteries :

an example: 100ah 12v = 1200 watt hours deliverable max at full discharge
To stay in the top 20% ( for longevity and give a couple of days when sun is poor ) = 1200*.2 = 240 watt hours per battery
40000/240 = 167 batteries needed !

so, 168 batteries at 200$ each = 33,000$ !!!
 
....

81k Ouch.

I too would love to take my home completely off grid, but due to the high costs of doing that as is ... I'm trying to work it a step at a time. With the goal of getting everything except ( heating, cooling, dryer, oven ) on to RE.

I would love comments and suggestions about what follows:

I'm thinking about and trying to approach it this way:

1. I'm installing a standalone, off grid circuit. ( its not yet complete) That will power my shed, back yard, garage, and two receptacles in my living room ( which doubles as my home office ) This first Array and Bank will provide around 2kwh per day. It might not sound like much, but it meets the needs of this isolated circuit.

- This will give me emergency power when needed, and the opportunity to use some green energy right away ... Reducing my  grid consumption.

2. I'm replacing every light bulb on the property with CFL's where possible and lower wattage elsewhere.

- This reduces my energy needs, and reduces the heat in my home during the summer.


3. I'm replacing my gas powered yard tools with electric versions.

- This reduces my gas consumption,, and carbon foot print. It also gives me a place to put some of the collected solar power ... in to the batteries of the tools. This is not really house-off-grid related, but it is a feel good extra step.

4. Since half the goal of being able to go off grid is to reduce power needs ... I'm looking at;
  a. Solar Hot Water Heating add on
  b. South Side Window utilization;
     i. opening in winter with heat collecting mass added to floor
     11. closing in summer with extra shading
  c. Additional attic ventilation for summer
  d. Pulling solar heated air in to home during winter
  e. Putting hot water heater on timer, to prevent heating while sleeping
  f. Reduce phantom/stand by loads. This one is tough, not sure how to fix this.

- These things help reduce the needs of the RE, and therefore the cost of the system required. So, If you skip the big energy eaters like Heat Pumps and other heating/cooling type of devices ... Your actual energy requirements can drop quite a bit.

5. Add additional PV and possibly Wind Power ... repeat until complete.

Anyways, I would love to hear comments, and also hope this helps and gives Gary some more to think about. I know I'm still trying to wrap my head around a good path to get these things done in an affordable manor.

I guess the question becomes ....

What things can be done to get your energy requirements down ( without changing life style) to where it is affordable to go off grid?