Sun, Wind, Corn Pare Utility Bills for Takoma Park, Md., Family.

By Lorraine Mirabella, The Baltimore Sun Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News

Dec. 22--Mike Tidwell's house looks so well, ordinary.

But beneath its 1915-era Cape Cod exterior, the Takoma Park house where Tidwell lives with his wife and 6-year-old son is anything but. Nearly all its electricity, heat and hot water come from the sun, the wind and, of all things, corn. His family uses natural gas only to cook and to heat water on cloudy days.

In the process, the family has pared its utility costs by more than half, from about $1,420 a year to ab