Follow-up from thread 5778 and moving here: Challenge is a small cabin > 5km from grid and no motorised access (too steep, wild). It works well already with wood, candles and water from a stream (if not exactly family friendly). To increase modern comforts, planning is now:

• Small photovoltaic system, 50w panel, 100 Ah battery capacity.
  (for 8 LED lamps + radio + charging mobile/gps)
• Small power generator for topping battery and use of tools/water pump.
• Additional self contained solar lamps for exterior lights.
• Solar thermal collector (air) to raise base indoor temperature, improve ventilation and reduce humidity/condensation. Will reverse in summer and draw cool air from vent on North wall (shade).
• Hot water coil in wood-burner to provide for hot showers. (Possibly with 12V pump. Or maybe just air pressure camping shower filled from 25ltr tank on top of wood stove. Solar Camp Showers, the black bags, did not work: too flimsy and hard to keep clean.)
• Cooking on gas (minimal consumption)/wood stove in winter.

The modest capacity is just a result of every component having to be carried several km in steep and rugged terrain. For now, a few ideas have been abandoned that could be good elsewhere:

• Wind turbines (too noisy, relatively low output, vibrations, turbulence, too many moving parts and bad for bats/birds).
• Pico hydro systems (stream too far away, components too heavy, too much maintenance, frost proofing). Yet, some very attractive systems are being developed.
• Water tank heating from solar collector in combination with wood stoves even if there are some very good maritime and residential solutions available (too complicated, requires frost proofing, constant electricity for pumps).
• Roof water collection (requires frost proof tank, filtering system and a new roof...).
• A mobile phone (gsm) remote controlled gas/paraffin stove to pre-heat the cabin before arrival (feel uneasy about starting a flame without knowing whether a bird has snuck in the chimney and built a nest on top of the stove, and I dislike carrying gas/paraffin).
• Gas/12V fridge (too heavy, energy consumption too high, using snow or cold stream water in a cold box in the shade is usually sufficient).
• Heat pump, also for refrigeration (too complicated/heavy).
• A modern wood burning stove to install in open fireplace. Would increase heating efficiency enormously, but they are just too heavy.
• TV/Computer deliberately left out, not worth disturbing the silence and a lot more weight electric capacity needed.

The main challenge is actually sewerage/septic. Solutions exist, but I would prefer a flushing toilet (e.g. marine style), but environmental requirements makes it almost impossible to create a legal, composting septic system. Even so, the bottom line is that, yes, it is possible to create a comfortable living environment with pretty simple technologies.
So, if anyone has any experience with such or other alternative technologies, please share. SH3D is a brilliant canvas, but ideas for optimal solutions would be welcome.


Challenge

Much, much steeper than it looks, beyond snowmobiles

SH3D planning, early overview rendering

ok