Ceiling vent fans are typically 12V, not 110VAC. I used the MaxAir and like it. The snorkel type cover allows the fan to be used even in the rain. You can still have your little crank up lid inside the snorkel cover to seal things up tight when you want to retain heat/cold. The fan itself is high efficiency and moves the air well. Those little 6" noise maker fans you often see inside the crank up lids are a joke. The snorkel and crank up lid can both be had in transluscent white, so you get a modest sky light in the bargain. You can block the light, and insulate by stuffing a pillow in the hole when you want.
I would suggest that your 12V system be limited to the house, not the shop, except for a single ceiling light so you don't kill yourself walking through the shop on a dark night. Other typical 12V items in the house area are ceiling lights, task lights (florescent or better yet LED) ceiling fan, and possibly a 12V matress pad as a low energy way of staying warm.
If you will almost always have AC power available then all you need is a couple of small 12V ceiling lights just so you can see to get in and out. You can even do that with AC lights, but that implies running the inverter all the time (which you may well do anyway because of the fridge). The only other downside is the coversion losses from AC to DC to AC, but those are pretty minor if the loads are small. It's just a matter of doing the math to see how long your batteries will last. Never plan on using more than 50% of their capacity though, otherwise you will kill them quickly.
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