The hand you've been dealt...

Site Specs:

Elevation: 

• The top of the property is at 2580' (786 meters for you international visitors) above sea level.
• The pad site for  version 1.0 of the cabin will be at about 2150', with about 1100-1200' of drop to the valley below.
• We are somewhat protected on our the North and West by the 400' of hill and cliffs uphill from our site

Solar Insolation: 

• High: 4.68
• Low: 3.37
• Average: 4.23
• Take Away: not too bad

Our view to the south:

Wind:

• On the peak/ridge about 400' above us, it would be a DOE wind class 4, on a tower.
• Down at the pad site, class 3 at best is what I'm thinking.
• Translation: (source NREL)

• Cool tool for current wind stats, find yourself: http://hint.fm/wind
• Take Away:  I'd have to really want to use wind power to put a tower on the ridge to get up into zone 4; and there's more maintenance on wind gear than solar (the batteries and charge controller are a wash), based solely on the 4 wind and solar power books I've read , starting with Solar may be the route for us since utility power is over 1/2 a mile from our site as the crow flies over unbroken terrain.

Water:

• There is no pond or lake on the property.
• I've done basic collection research and built a system at home for garden water rain harvesting.  Here I'm thinking of starting a non-potable setup to collect for site work (concrete and stone work) and utility water for cleaning off ourselves and such.  
• Rainfall is estimated at: 40" per year over 120 days per year.
• Thanks to the pitch of the site, taking advantage of the hill means a collection cistern 50' uphill from the site = ~20psi of water at the hose at our site.  100' uphill for ~40 psi is realistic, too (brawn and budget allowing).   
• The formula for figuring your water pressure based on the height of water is  PSI = 0.43 x H (where H is height in feet).   So 100' up the hill, PSI = 0.43 x 100.  You've got to deduct pressure loss of  your pipe/host to get the water down to you, but you get the idea.

Terrain:

• Steep and rocky.  The bluff we're on is less lush than the two hollows/draws to the NE and SW of our site.
• There is a spring in the hollow to our north, but on a neighbor's lot. These hollows are much greener and have a larger mix of tree species.

Fauna:

• Black bear, seen by us, and neighbors have shot
• Mountain Lion/Bobcat, tracks seen by us and our former surveryor
• Rattlesnake, seen and heard by us
• Whitetail deer, seen a plenty
• Hawks, enjoyed daily

So that's the hand we've been dealt.    Next steps: what to build?  Data collection?  Plan, plan, plan.