Not sure I understand your question. My assumptions: You use well water now with a pump that pushes water through a soaker hose system in your garden. You would like to replace the soaker hoses with drip-line. You would like to automate something using solar power. My questions: Do you want to use solar power to run a timer? If so, why? Batteries or 110v would be cheaper. You surely are not talking about solar to run a pump? I would guess you would have to cover the back 40 acres with solar collectors to be able to pump water. My off-the-cuff response without benefit of knowing exactly what you want: The system you have now pushes water through a soaker hose. That system should also be able to supply water to drip-lines. If you want more than one zone, I would think you would need a control for each zone, consisting of a filter and pressure regulator. To really "automate", you just need a timer to switch the zones on and off. If I am answering questions you did not ask, you might clarify your questions for me. Tom

Snow reflects the entire light spectrum, thus it apears white (unless you live in London where we have grey snow). Obviously it's very unlikely to reflect straight off the snow on the ground and directly hit the pannels commonly installed on a roof, but when the light photons are bounced off the snow they do go back in to the atmopshere. From here they do a number off things, mostly they're bounced about by the atmospheric gases (mainly water), some are lost in to space and a large number are sent back down to earth again. You can see just how reflective the atmosphere is by looking at the sky. The human eye doesn't see light photons untill they impact particles/gases in the atmosphere, which is why outer space is filled with light photons and still pitch black. One of the many benifits of having atmospheric gases is their ability to trap various form of energy, mainly heat and light close to the earth's surface by reflecting most which are not asorbed on contact with the earth back down again. When the earth's surface is highly reflective the light is constantly bouncing between the ground and the atmopshere, thus raising the levels of solar radiation that will impact the solar collector, and giving a basis to my claim that cold climates are "filled with solar radiation". While the direct path of light provides the most useful energy in a solar system, a large ammount of energy can also be gained from indirect sources like reflection. Also, there will be clouds in cold climates, just it's more common to have clear skys in cold weather. The colder the air, the less water it can hold. Weather forcasts are in part based on rules like this because they're so dependable. Without clouds in the way (although in some cases they can actually help by reflecting light back when white and fluffy) solar systems can work better. Well, I hope this makes better sense. You'll have to excuse my slightly difficult description as I don't speak perfect english and scientific words are not every day lanuage.

. I've been on a PV / battery grid-tied system for a year now. My usage was ~ 300 kWh / month winter; 175 kWh / month summer. Basic initial cost before any incentives etc was ~ 32k. I have two 10 foot square arrays; a total of 2800 watts of PV. You've got some major electrical usage going; and you obviously must provide for your daughter. I'll say that firstly; cutting your USAGE will be cheaper than supplying that energy via PV / wind / whatever. Electric stoves, water heaters are BIG users; actually anything with any kind of heating element in it is a hog. Next on the list is compressors . . . fridge / freezer / AC equipment. Buying newer ( more efficient ) fridge / freezer / AC could possibly save you a lot of usage; depending upon how old your existing stuff is. Buy by Energy rating; not doo-dads / frills . . . and buy the size you need . . no less; but no more. AC only room(s) that need it. Lighting is another area you can likely save some usage in . . . the variety / styles / sizes of fluorescents is very good now; and they produce the same amount of light with ~ 20% of the energy. They can be had in "daylight" spectrums as well. Also produce FAR less heat; which in turn can help lower your cooling costs. They also last FAR longer; usually about 10 times longer. I'm in central New York state; certainly NOT the sun capital of the world. You likely have FAR more sunshine hours . . my system has 2800 watts worth of panels . . . sized for sun here to basically provide all of my electricity in the period of a year. Get a good surplus during the summer; but run into deficit in the winter. You don't have to, but might want to consider; doing battery back-up for your medical equipment for if / when the grid goes down . . usually there is a "critical load panel" that is powered when running on batteries; so you would keep necessities on this panel . . they are also powered when the grid is up. That way; you wouldn't have to scramble to find a generator etc. You can size a battery bank for practically any load / time. Again; your sun situation is likely far better than mine here. You're not gonna end up with a cheap system by any means; but there may be some incentives for you . . . in my case they were substantial . . between NY state incentives, tax credits, and a federal tax credit; ended up paying ~ half the system cost. Your mileage may vary. You should also check with your local utility about net metering and waht the laws are there . .. some places they are not obligated to credit you ANYTHING for any power you may generate . . some places require that the utility buy it back, sometimes at above market costs; since it's "green" . . . those policies are local regional . . don't know your particulars. Again; if you're planning a new place, NOW is the time to make some choices to save energy; which will MORE than pay for themselves in terms of lowered system cost if you do so. Can't say much about wind power . . but your site can be evaluated relatively easily to see if it would be feasable and what power you would get from it. There may be some zoning / code questions with wind generation too . . or even the solar panels for that matter. Look into that before you get too well dug in . . . Good luck . . . Bob

Hi, I've got a couple new ones that I've not had a chance to take a look at yet -- I'll have a look and post a note if either looks good. Are you looking for something to guide you understanding the systems and to choose a good system and contractor? Or, are you looking for info on how to build your own system? Its not to likely (I think) that you will find a single book that covers both wind and PV in any depth (let alone solar heating). Gary