If you've decided to go the whole hog and switch your entire home over to renewable electrical sources, there are a few issues of which you should be aware. They may not affect you, depending on your circumstances and location, but you need to understand that it's not necessarily all roses.

Some states' energy models for efficiency compliance do not take an off-grid electrical supply into account, especially for electric-resistance space heating and water heating (even if you're using a heat pump). They assume you're using grid power for these things, so they penalize electricity use. This is important because, in a grid-tied system, such assumptions can hit you hard and make it more difficult to achieve a net-zero effect.

There are also some strange rules for fireplaces in green building programs, once you've decided not to use gas. For example, you might want to put in an alcohol-burning fireplace but most of them don't allow for venting. This puts you in direct conflict with several programs, including LEED, which will lose you any nice eco label you may have otherwise had.

One of the biggest problems you'll run into with a fully electric home is the one you'll least expect: breaking habits. You'll have to learn to cook with electricity instead of gas, to use electric instead of gas-powered heating and you may have to do without some of the traditional things for which there are no alternative, electric equivalents.

You may also need to change your usage habits, especially if you want to avoid grid power as much as possible.