I am currently heating my home with a gas forced air system.

I want to install solar panels and generate enough power to satisfy my heating, airconditioninng, water heating and other electric needs.

If feasible and affordable, I would also like to install enough solar-generated power to be able to sell it back to the grid and receive monthly checks.

What's the best way to heat my home and ending my dependency on the gas furnace?

I know the initial capital outlays for what I'm talking about doing are significant, but I'm betting on the return over the long haul to more than pay for the initial investment. Even if it takes 10-15+ years to pay for itself, I'm OK with that.

I've heard of a just replacing my gas furnace with an electric one, and a short search showed that these are available for relatively low cost. But would this be the best way to go?

Any help much appreciated!

I'm not an expert on this and I'm sure someone will come along that knows more than me but let me tell you what I do know.

I'm in Pennsylvania so the area you're in may give you slightly different results but anyway... I guy that lives next door to my friend spent a fortune on solar panels and batteries and all that was required. He had a company talk him into it and they gave him this big talk about how he would be making so much energy from it that he would be able to sell it back. Turns out that he isn't making enough to sell back... in fact he's making some but he still needs to use electricity to help power his house. I don't know if the company scammed him, if they didn't know what was going on, who knows... all I do know is he spent all kinds of money that he will likely never really see a ROI for a long, long time. Just be careful.