Sites that may be of interest:
Net Zero house in Edmonton - Grid Tied House, House uses NO natural gas, the net electrical bill for one year comes out to $0.
Home builder in Calgary that installs Geothermal systems - combined with solar water heat.
Wind Power is going to be significantly cheaper than solar power, though it's not as maintenance free as solar.
If you want to go solar though, look into both solar electric and solar water heat.