We are moving toward electric for almost all of our needs. This trend has been going on for the past two decades. There is no way I could get by with solar and wind in Seattle. There simply is not enough of either. If there were a way to tun rain into electricity, we would have something.

That is true bio-d.

It IS hard to imagine home based power will work in all locations. But given larger installations located where there is enough wind, or in the case of Seattle wave and ocean current power, the result would be enough power to fill in the gaps.

I'm sure that huge industrial wind farms, wave and current generators, and solar power systems in desert regions will be needed if fossil fuel and nuclear power is eventually replaced.

Will our civilization have the will to do it? Only time will tell. But that will involve reigning in the power of fossil fuel based corporate monopoly. And that's a HUGE bite to chew on.

Actually offshore wind would be a huge power source in your region. But of course as with the cape Wind project off the east coast, NIMBYs would stifle it in your area.

The beauty of wave and current generators is they are mostly underwater. And water holds 180 times the potential power of wind per area of flow, due to it's density.

Homes and lifestyles aimed at quality of life and conservation of energy can go a long way to reduce energy waste, even in areas where signifigant solar and wind power can't be generated.