So I visited a friend in Arizona, who lives in a very nice house up on a mountain in the high desert (5,000 feet.)

To get across the creek, they need a 4-wheel drive, so he got a truck that he runs on bio-diesel, which he makes in his garage in town (2nd house.)

When putting the whole thing together, he investigated wind and solar, but the deciding factor was when the solar installer (who also did wind) told him that over 80% of his service calls were to fix wind power equipment.
All those moving parts, lightning strikes, etc...
Apparently the solar stuff is virtually trouble free, and is supposed to last at least 30 years with no appreciable loss of efficiency.

He has two large panels, maybe 12' x 12', and they turn to face the sun.
On top of each panel are four sensors. When each gets the same amount of sun, the panels are getting maximum exposure, so that's how they adjust the position.
They rotate across the sky each day, then pivot back to the start position to wait for dawn.
The only moving parts are in the pivoting mechanism, and that was adapted from radar installations, so it's time tested.

Apparently they get a lot of power out of them (not sure how many megawatts, or whatever) because that's how they power the whole house.

1,700 sq. feet, 3 computers, bigscreen tv, washer/dryer, huge fridge (packed full of tasty food, btw!) and plenty of light.
Pretty luxurious.

He works entirely from home (for Oracle) via satellite internet. It was a bit slow, which he seemed kinda frustrated by. (Hard to tell, because he's so low key - his wife is the amped up one.)

Anyway, it was an interesting look into possibilities.
Plus, I got to ride a horse.