First, I have to ask why starting over? What did you do before and why didn't it work? Second, have you read through all the FAQs here? They are linked near the top of the forum page and are pretty much step by step. Third, all the things on your list wouldn't be started at the same time and several of them are normally direct seeded, not started indoors - lettuce, corn, cucumber, both melons, peas. Although Butter Lettuce is a head lettuce so you can start it indoors if you wish. What specific "plant bulb"? What bulbs for the shop light? It will be real hard to fit all of those plants under one light. What size cups and how do you plan to use them? Small 3 oz work ok for germination. Also, to prevent thinning and transplanting, could I plant 1 seed per peat cell to delay transferring? Why avoid? Thinning is easy to do with snip scissors and some things - tomatoes and peppers - need to be transplanted at least once just to trigger feeder root development. All the others will benefit from a transplant. Need more info please. Dave PS: Skip the foil bowls. Not sure what you planned to use them for - water or germination - but anything plastic is better if using them for shallow germination. Got any yogurt cups or butter dishes? Anything with soil in it needs holes punched in them. Here is a link that might be useful: Growing from Seed FAQs

Yes - you're right. When you pull off the grid, you first use up your credits. Then you either buy additional power from the electric company. Or, if you generate more power than you use, you get paid for the excess by the electric company. I'd have to check my notes - I think it may be annually. If you think about it - the days are longer in summer, so you will generate more power. Days are shorter in winter, you generate less power. So you most likely will pull more power off the grid in winter, pull less power in summer. So things would even out over a year. The SRECs are completely different. And I still don't have my head completely wrapped around them. They are Solar Renewable Energy Credits. The utility companies are required by law to generate a certain portion of their electricity by solar. They buy these SRECs to comply with this requirement. If they don't have enough SRECs they are fined. From srectrade.com In SREC states, the Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS) requires electricity suppliers to secure a portion of their electricity from solar generators. The SREC program provides a means for Solar Renewable Energy Certificates (SRECs) to be created for every megawatt-hour of solar electricity created. 1 SREC = 1,000 kWh of solar electricity = 1 MWh of solar electricity 10 kW solar capacity = ~12 SRECs per year The SREC is sold separately from the electricity and represents the "solar" aspect of the electricity that was produced. The value of an SREC is determined by the market subject to supply and demand constraints. SRECs can be sold to electricity suppliers needing to meet their solar RPS requirement. The market is typically capped by a fine or solar alternative compliance payment (SACP) paid by any electricity suppliers for every SREC they fall short of the requirement. The sale of SRECs is intended to promote the growth of distributed solar by shortening the time it takes to earn a return on the investment. Once the installation of a solar system is complete, the system must then be certified by the state(s) in which it is eligible to sell SRECs and then must create an account with the tracking platform used by that state. Once registered, every month, the tracking platform will issue SRECs based on the generation of your system. In some states, estimated generation is used for systems under 10kW, while all other systems are required to submit generation on a monthly basis. One SREC is created for every 1000kWh of electricity created. For example, a 10kW system can generate approximately 1 SREC per month. However, it is up to the solar installation owner to decide how to manage the SRECs that are produced. Some states will certify solar electric systems from out-of-state and allow the SRECs from those facilities to count towards the RPS. The map above shows what state individuals can sell their SRECs into. Here is a link that might be useful: srec trade dot com

Since you're installing cove lighting, you could increase the output and forego the 3" cans next to the screen wall. If done correctly, they can eliminate the need for recessed lighting. Otherwise, There are "low voltage" solutions from twicebright.com and other vendors which you could compare with. http://twicebright.com/iLED/index.asp The small aperture lights are invariably low voltage devices with a built in power supply connected to line voltage. If you decide to put in small aperture lighting, you could forego the sconces. If you want a lighting solution that dims nicely without worrying about which lights should be on a particular circuit, you could employ a home automation system (z-wave, zigbee or enocean). The main advantage of enocean is that it is wireless and remote switches are energy harvesting. You will only need to run lighting circuits as single way. There is no need to run wire or additional junction boxes to support a traditional 3 or more way circuit. In addition, you can place the wireless switches anywhere since they can be glued to the wall.

OK, so first of all, I want to thank GreenDesigns, jakuvall, and azmom, in particular, for this last round of feedback. Your points were very helpful. There are some things I need to do. To clarify on a couple of comments: GreenDesigns, it's not backwards here, for some reason. It's more common than not to hire a CKD for concept to completion. Maybe it's because there's not a lot of reno work going on. For new home construction, what you say about the builder being contracted, and then bringing on the ID and CKD is absolutely the way it happens in my area, as well. But according to my CKD, most reno projects are being done by his own network of subs, and so builders are not often used. So with his clients, we're going to the CKD first, determining scope as a result of the initial plan that gets put together, and that's when we decided we needed to bring in a builder. To jakuvall's points - this is exactly where I'm at. I don't think my expectation that the CKD provide a line of sight into when decisions have to be made is unreasonable, or that I should pay extra for PM services. I think this is ridiculous. I'm paying a kitchen designer $35,000 for cabinetry in a 10x12 kitchen, who is also responsible for selections of countertops, tile, and finishings. He can certainly drive that bus. I don't expect the GC to be responsible for this piece, nor do I expect the CKD to be responsible for the build timeline. But again, I see two phases here: design and build. I expect the CKD to present and manage a timeline associated with design decisions for the design phase, and I expect the builder to present and manage a timeline associated with implementation. On another note, I spoke with the builder today. He said this is typical of our CKD's approach. He needs to be pushed on quite a bit, apparently. On the one hand, I feel somewhat better that my expectations don't see to be out-of-whack. On another hand, I do need a designer with strong PM skills, and I clearly don't have that. The builder is willing to help with that piece because he cares about the experience we have, and knows we've hired experts for this because we don't the time, ourselves, to dedicate to managing this. He also is feeling a bit of the pinch with decisions lagging, knowing his demo date is coming up and we still haven't seen cabinetry options from the CKD, and the order has to get placed in a week. Lastly, he offered that the CKD might have confusion relative to what role he is expected to play in some of the finishings, as he is accustomed to the ID driving that piece. Despite the fact that I had already told the CKD that the ID was playing less of a front-end role, and more of a back-end "yes, that palate will work with the rest of the house that we will be designing for," the builder has offered that both of them might benefit from some clarity. He offered, himself, that he is confused about who's making what decision. So, clearly, I need to step up and carve this out for everyone. Based on a successful call with the builder and all of your input, I plan to get the GC, CKD, ID, and us together to piece this out one-by-one so everyone knows what I need them to do. Then I'm going to ask for timelines for both phases, confirm the budget, and request weekly meetings with them. I wish that the CKD had taken charge of this. I've never been through this, admittedly, and don't know what I don't know. I thought I had been clear at the on-set that this was a new experience for me, and that I needed him to inform me of what, and how, all of this should be done. I made the assumption that the CKD took PM responsibility for the design phase of the project. I still think I'm right about that in theory, but clearly only the real-life situation is all that matters. :/