Producing heat, comfort and food

I have been reading from other people's experiences, particularly IWillTry.org, and got some good ideas I may try this coming winter.
First idea is to use dehumidifiers to increase comfort and produce some heat in the process. We could use two dehumidifiers in our home, one upstairs and one downstairs, each in the main living rooms. Our house is fairly damp, particularly downstairs, so a dehumidifier will increase comfort.
Second idea is to use a dehumidifier to dry cloth indoors. That should be fairly easy downstairs, by setting a small dehumidifier in the laundry room, with a drying rack. The dehumidifier could be set on a timer. For the upstairs laundry room, I will have to be a little more inventive.
Third idea is to grow plants indoors, using grow lights to compensate for short days. These grow lights will produce heat, that will heat the room. Basically, all the heat produced by the grow lights will be displaced from the main furnace. In theory, the grow lights won't use any extra energy. In practice, if I put the grow lights in the room where the furnace thermostat is, then the rest of the house will be a little cooler, or I will have to set the thermostat a little higher. Either way, it looks like growing plants indoor in the winter, using grow lights, does not use as much electricity as it appears at first. Plus I will have fresh salads all winter long.

Looks like I will have some fun projects this winter.