Energy Conservation: How do I start solar powering my home? and living OFF the grid?

Average middle income family living in the boondocks. Where do I learn more about how to do it? Can I do it in stages? How many do I need for my size house? Do I have to put solar panels on my roof? or a big solar panel form in my yard? Are they strong enough to survive severe storms and hail?

What is preventing us from turning to the Sun for our main source of energy?

The Sun is going to keep shining for a long time, and it’s energy is renewable (I think), unlike gasoline and other resources. It seems like the most sensible source of energy to use (or is it? If not, point it out in your answer)! However, it also seems that there are things preventing us from using the Sun. What are they? Is it just too expensive? Is our society too used to using gasoline and other fuels that nobody is willing to take a leap to create a product using the Sun’s energy because they fear losing money? Is it just the lack of technology? and if so, why aren’t we developing the technology to use the sunlight? Do we get a small amount of energy from the sun that isn’t worth harvesting?

What is preventing us from turning to the Sun for our main source of energy?
Regarding the answers that point out something about the Sun not shining 24/7, or that the weather (clouds, haze, fog, etc.) would cause the energy source to be unreliable, why can’t we create something that collects and stores the sunlight into some sort of battery to be used when sunlight is not available?

What would damage liberals more: electing a pretty liberal Republican, or a super far left Democrat?

McCain bought into the whole Global Warming and ANWAR BS, and he is their greatest ally on Illegal Immigration. I even saw him at a photo op with another liberal Republican (Schwartzenegger) at a solar energy plant. With the exception of Iraq, isn’t he going to give them everything they want, and the Republicans are going to be blamed for the mess in 4 years when our country is overflowing with illegals and gas is 5 bucks a gallon because we can’t even pump our own damn oil?

How can you travel through the Sun ?

I have read some online books about heat shielding, the suns temp runs at roughly 15,000,000 degrees Kelvin in the centre. These are estimates as nothing has entered the sun or made it to the centre,
it’s guess work but if it could be traversed perhaps we could learn more from it. What if a vehicle could be built with a large mass of heat shielding to protect it obviosly radiation would be a factor as would heat, distance, pressure etc. I know the facts that we so called “know”, but until you actually go there you can’t study somthing unless your there. They could study mars from miles away in space but they still landed so why not our sun ? Being that if we could harness just the smallest part of that energy we would never need any other form of energy. I am aware of solar energy and nuclear power being that the sun uses two isotopes of hydrogen (tritium and deuterium). Any ideas would be appricated.