This table provides a range of expected solar light levels in some U.S. cities. As you can see some places receive much more light than others. When you are plannig any solar panel array you need to keep in mind just how much light you could possibly receive in your area. For more general light levels in North America see: Solar Sun Map of the United States and Canada

State

City

High

Low

Avg.

State

City

High

Low

Avg.

AK	Fairbanks	5.87	2.12	3.99		MO	Columbia	5.5	3.97	4.73
AK	Matanuska	5.24	1.74	3.55		MO	St. Louis	4.87	3.24	4.38
Al	Montgomery	4.69	3.37	4.23		MS	Meridian	4.86	3.64	4.43
AR	Bethel	6.29	2.37	3.81		MT	Glasgow	5.97	4.09	5.15
AR	Little Rock	5.29	3.88	4.69		MT	Great Falls	5.70	3.66	4.93
AZ	Tucson	7.42	6.01	6.57		MT	Summit	5.17	2.36	3.99
AZ	Page	7.30	5.65	6.36		NM	Albuquerque	7.16	6.21	6.77
AZ	Phoenix	7.13	5.78	6.58		NB	Lincoln	5.40	4.38	4.79
CA	Santa Maria	6.52	5.42	5.94		NB	N. Omaha	5.28	4.26	4.90
CA	Riverside	6.35	5.35	5.87		NC	Cape Hatteras	5.81	4.69	5.31
CA	Davis	6.09	3.31	5.10		NC	Greensboro	5.05	4.00	4.71
CA	Fresno	6.19	3.42	5.38		ND	Bismark	5.48	3.97	5.01
CA	Los Angeles	6.14	5.03	5.62		NJ	Sea Brook	4.76	3.20	4.21
CA	Soda Springs	6.47	4.40	5.60		NV	Las Vegas	7.13	5.84	6.41
CA	La Jolla	5.24	4.29	4.77		NV	Ely	6.48	5.49	5.98
CA	Inyokern	8.7	6.87	7.66		NY	Binghampton	3.93	1.62	3.16
CO	Grandby	7.47	5.15	5.69		NY	Ithaca	4.57	2.29	3.79
CO	Grand Lake	5.86	3.56	5.08		NY	Schenetady	3.92	2.53	3.55
CO	Grand Junct.	6.34	5.23	5.85		NY	Rochester	4.22	1.58	3.31
CO	Boulder	5.72	4.44	4.87		NY	NY City	4.97	3.03	4.08
DC	Washington	4.69	3.37	4.23		OH	Columbus	5.26	2.66	4.15
FL	Apalachicola	5.98	4.92	5.49		OH	Cleveland	4.79	2.69	3.94
FL	Belie Is.	5.31	4.58	4.99		OK	Stillwater	5.52	4.22	4.99
FL	Miami	6.26	5.05	5.62		OK	Oklahoma City	6.26	4.98	5.59
FL	Gainesville	5.81	4.71	5.27		OR	Astoria	4.76	1.99	3.72
FL	Tampa	6.16	5.26	5.67		OR	Corvallis	5.71	1.90	4.03
GA	Atlanta	5.16	4.09	4.74		OR	Medford	5.84	2.02	4.51
GA	Griffin	5.41	4.26	4.99		PA	Pittsburg	4.19	1.45	3.28
HI	Honolulu	6.71	5.59	6.02		PA	State College	4.44	2.79	3.91
IA	Ames	4.80	3.73	4.40		RI	Newport	4.69	3.58	4.23
ID	Boise	5.83	3.33	4.92		SC	Charleston	5.72	4.23	5.06
ID	Twin Falls	5.42	3.42	4.70		SD	Rapid City	5.91	4.56	5.23
IL	Chicago	4.08	1.47	3.14		TN	Nashville	5.20	3.14	4.45
IN	Indianapolis	5.02	2.55	4.21		TN	Oak Ridge	5.06	3.22	4.37
KN	Manhattan	5.08	3.62	4.57		TX	San Antonio	5.88	4.65	5.30
KN	Dodge City	4.14	5.28	5.79		TX	Brownsville	5.49	4.42	4.92
KY	Lexington	5.97	3.60	4.94		TX	El Paso	7.42	5.87	6.72
LA	Lake Charles	5.73	4.29	4.93		TX	Midland	6.33	5.23	5.83
LA	New Orleans	5.71	3.63	4.92		TX	Fort Worth	6.00	4.80	5.43
LA	Shreveport	4.99	3.87	4.63		UT	Salt Lake City	6.09	3.78	5.26
MA	E. Wareham	4.48	3.06	3.99		UT	Flaming Gorge	6.63	5.48	5.83
MA	Boston	4.27	2.99	3.84		VA	Richmond	4.50	3.37	4.13
MA	Blue Hill	4.38	3.33	4.05		WA	Seattle	4.83	1.60	3.57
MA	Natick	4.62	3.09	4.10		WA	Richland	6.13	2.01	4.44
MA	Lynn	4.60	2.33	3.79		WA	Pullman	6.07	2.90	4.73
MD	Silver Hill	4.71	3.84	4.47		WA	Spokane	5.53	1.16	4.48
ME	Caribou	5.62	2.57	4.19		WA	Prosser	6.21	3.06	5.03
ME	Portland	5.23	3.56	4.51		WI	Madison	4.85	3.28	4.29
MI	Sault Ste. Marie	4.83	2.33	4.20		WV	Charleston	4.12	2.47	3.65
MI	E. Lansing	4.71	2.70	4.00		WY	Lander	6.81	5.50	6.06
MN	St. Cloud	5.43	3.53	4.53

These two properties are located in two very different parts of New Hampshire. One is in the Western Central area of New Hampshire and the other is located in the large Northern county of Coos. Both of these properties have a lot of acreage and depending on your goals either is an interesting choice for a farm or home project.

The large northern area of New Hampshire, dominated by Coos county has a good deal more wind according to the Wind Map of New Hampshire, so if you are thinking about windmills then the northern property might be a better choice.

"Unity Mountain Forest
Land For Sale: 425.00 Acres Priced At $340,000 (USD)
Sullivan County, Claremont, New Hampshire, United States"

"Corrigan Hill
Land For Sale: 80.00 Acres Priced At $250,000 (USD)
Coos County, Lancaster, New Hampshire, United States"

from realestate 

This morning we watched the morning shows and they were going over solar powered lawn mowers and solar panel chargers. They seem like great products from what the hosts were going over. Although the stated 2-3 day recharging time seems to be more like a week if you go by what the hosts on NBC's Today show were saying.

When they turned them on they had a good sound. Not silent like older electric versions but they had a nice hum, but much lower in volume than a traditional gas mower. If you are in an area that has a good amount of sun, and your property is not too large than these seem like great products with a lot of power to go over any lawn. 

"21 In. Self Propelled Cordless Electric Mower
Model: SP21B
Store SKU #: 506210
Rear Wheel Drive - Self Propelled
Cuts 7,000 to 10,000 sq. ft. per charge (depending on grass conditions)
Est. $327 Savings in fuel and maintenance costs over 6 years
Push Button Start
Steel Deck with Side Discharge
Earth Friendly Product"

"19 Self Propelled Cordless Electric Mower
Model: SP19B
Internet/Cat #: 975003
Store SKU #: 506211
Rear Wheel Drive - Self Propelled
Cuts 7,000 to 10,000 sq. ft. per charge (depending on grass conditions)
Est. $327 Savings in fuel and maintenance costs over 6 years
Push Button Start
Steel Deck
Earth Friendly Product "

"Solaris
Solar Charger Station
Model: 510133
Internet/Cat #: 975005
Store SKU #: 516984
Stay completely off the grid
Charges batteries in 2 to 3 days (depending on cloud conditions)
Battery holder included"

you can find these solar powered lawn mowers at homedepot 

Solar power is a great way to generate electricity and reduce your carbon footprint. These maps show the peak sun hours you can expect in various parts of the United States and Canada. If you are in an area with low levels of sunlight then you should expect to see the lower range of output from any array of solar panels. You can compensate for this by increasing the size of your array, but of course the expense needs to be justified.

On the other hand these maps do indicate that the Southwest United States has a very high level of light available and an array of solar panels can be more easily justified to provide full time power output.

from solar4power

If you need to power small electronic devices like ipod's or cell phones then a smaller 6 watt unit should work in most conditions. You do not always need full sun to see the benefits but of course the units work best with full sun. These portable solar panels are durable and can power many small electronics. Usually you need to have a car adapter attached to your device to hook in to these types of portable solar panel cells.

"Charges most cellphones (see compatibility list below) including Nokia, Sony-Ericsson, Siemens, Samsung, and Motorola. Also charges the Blackberry PDA. Includes all the adapter tips for these devices.

Charges in roughly 3-4 hours of sun. Even works under bright but cloudy conditions, only a little slower."

from soldius

"Brunton New SOLARIS i6 Foldable iPod Solar Charger

* 6-watt solar panel charger designed for iPods and other electronics
* Foldable CIGS solar panel with direct-connect iPod power cable
* Vehicle outlet cable plugs into car's 12-volt cigarette lighter adapter
* Links with other panels for increased power output; handy storage sack
* Measures 29 by 9 inches and weighs 7.1 ounces; one-year warranty"

from amazon

"Sunlinq 6.5 Watt Folding Solar Panel

* Made of Durable Nylon with a High Efficiency Thin Film Solar Cell
* Works with Automobiles, RV’s, Boats & Small Electronics
* Built-in Blocking Diode Protects Battery Discharge at Night
* Works in all weather conditions
* Maintenance Free / Easy Installation"

from amazon

Windmills are an interesting source of power, but many may not be able to benefit from this "free" power. Ranging anywhere from $5000 - $150,000 for towers and turbines there are some basic points a homeowner may need to realize before jumping into this great technology.

In many parts of the country local laws have made it very difficult for residents to just go ahead and put a windmill up to generate electricity. In a small New Hampshire town one resident was refused a permit because the "structure" was greater than 35 feet in height. This is now headed for court. Residents of other states may have similar problems with installing such systems.

Another problem is that you need to have at least a few acres of land. Windmills can be noisy and should be at least a few hundred feet away from any living structures. You also have to realize you need a good amount of wind to see the benefits. But do you want to be living in an area that has a sustained 12-15 mph wind?

Below is a wind map of the state of New Hampshire, and as you can see most of the state is not in the zone for relying on a windmill.

"This map indicates that New Hampshire has wind resources consistent with utility-scale production. The excellent wind resource areas in the state are on the ridge crests. The White Mountain region in northern New Hampshire is the most prominent area. Certain ridge crests in the western part of the state can also have excellent wind resource." 

from energy.gov

Using a windmill system for a farm or large property that may not have traditional grid access may be a great idea but you need to understand what type of wind consistency you can expect. This map shows basically what type of wind you can hope to get in different areas of the United States.

"This map shows the wind resource in the United States. Land is categorized by wind power class (left column of key), defined by a range of annual average wind speeds measured at 10 meters (33 feet) and 50 meters (164 feet). The columns called Wind Power estimate how much potential energy from the wind (in watts) is available per square meter of land, assuming wind turbine hub height of 10 or 50 meters. (Of course, to calculate Wind Power, assumptions about turbine size and performance were made.) Wind turbines are economical in wind power class 4–7."

map courtesy of e-marine-inc.com

If you are looking for large piece of land in New England these are a couple we came across on the web while we were looking for a somewhat smaller lot. This type of land is probably not too practical for the normal family or vacation property but at least you can find land this large in New England. Both of these properties are located in somewhat remote areas in either Northern New Hampshire of Mid Maine.

While we were looking for land we found this huge piece of property in New Hampshire. At almost 6,500 acres this property is huge. It has lots of timber and looks like it has a lake within the property limits, but it is hard to tell for sure.

"Stratford Forest
Northern NH - 6,494+/- Acres
Over 10 Sq. miles and your own lake!
Abuts 58,000 Acres of preserve land.
Trophy moose & blueribbon trout fishing.
Timber value $1,200,000+/-
Offered at $5,500,000
2007 National Farm & Forestry"

from landsofnewhampshire.com

This is a large 2000+ acre property located in Maine.  

 "Land For Sale: 2,313.00 Acres Priced At $2,100,000 (USD)
Sebago, Sweden, Cornish & Porter, Maine, United States"

from landsalelistings.com