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Eventually, it would be nice to cut my carbon foot print...
At some point I have to stop thinking about it, and actually implement some ideas...
Tankless water heater, wind power, solar photovoltaics, solar water heater.

I have a hybrid that need fixing. But I'd buy one of these if I had the money: http://www.aptera.com/

Tapped into the grid or off the grid? Where is the first place to start?

Not sure why you would want to go off the grid when you can spin your meter backwards when there is sun and draw it back from Edison when you need more than you are generating.

We have 2500 watts of PV on the roof. We generated 15kwh today. We also have about 25kwh worth of battery storage that will keep us powered for about two days if Edison is down. We pay our electric bill once a year.

My father-in-law began by buying 25 acres of forested land in northeastern Vermont that was off the grid. His converted deer camp and a couple of dairy farms were between the furthest reaches of the power grid. He owns a generator, has a composting toilet, has both gravity fed and hand pump water from a stream, uses propane lighting and refrigeration with a 1000 gallon tank, and just recently added solar panels and a bank of rechargable batteries to his arsenal. He also has his plow equipped truck, a backhoe and various other mechanical gadgets to keep himself entertained during the long winters.

Living off the grid:

http://www.lcs.net/users/pinecrest/

Thanks,
MtnDriver- I'm interested in the cost and complexity of the system you are using... and how one would set something like that up.