The Homeowner’s Guide to Renewable Energy: Achieving Energy Independence Through Solar, Wind, Biomass, and Hydropower
Energy bills have skyrocketed in the United States, and traditional energy sources can be as damaging to the environment as they are to your pocketbook. The Homeowner’s Guide to Renewable Energy will show you how to slash your home energy costs while dramatically reducing your carbon footprint. Completely revised and updated, this new edition describes
Energy bills have skyrocketed in the United States, and traditional energy sources can be as damaging to the environment as they are to your pocketbook. The Homeowner’s Guide to Renewable Energy will show you how to slash your home energy costs while dramatically reducing your carbon footprint.
Completely revised and updated, this new edition describes the most practical and affordable methods for making significant improvements in home energy efficiency and tapping into clean, affordable, renewable energy resources. If implemented, these measures will save the average homeowner tens of thousands of dollars over the coming decades.
Focusing on the latest technological advances in residential renewable energy, this guide examines each alternative energy option available including:
Solar hot water and solar hot air systemsPassive and active solar retrofits for heating and coolingElectricity from solar, wind, and microhydroHydrogen, fuel cells, methane digesters, and biodiesel
This well-illustrated and accessible guide is an essential resource for those wanting to enter the renewable energy field. Packed with practical tips and guidelines, it gives readers sufficient knowledge to hire and communicate effectively with contractors and is a must-read for anyone interested in saving money and achieving energy independence.
Dan Chiras is the author of twenty-nine books on residential renewable energy and green building and the director of The Evergreen Institute’s Center for Renewable Energy and Green Building, where he teaches workshops on energy efficiency, renewable energy, and green building.
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A great resource for selecting the best RE options for your home This is a great introduction to essentially all the renewable energy resources available. Chiras takes a sensible, realistic look at a number of options for both reducing your dependence on fossil fuels as well as saving money. He talks about which solutions work best in which climates and gives tips on where to begin wading into renewable energy.I originally bought the book as a resource to help us select which renewable energy options were viable in our new home design. It served that purpose well but I will also keep it handy as we move forward as Chiras goes beyond the typical introduction and gives planning suggestions and some detailed discussions on sizing and maintenance of a few systems.Note that this book is targeted at home owners wishing to retrofit their EXISTING homes for renewable energy. Repeatedly throughout the book, Chiras recommended his book “The Solar House” for those of us designing new homes. I plan to read that book before building but…
A decent overview; left me wanting more details. I read this book cover-to-cover over the course of a couple of weeks. I’m new to the field of renewable energy, so you’ll have to take my criticisms for what they are, a critique of the writing:1) The author frequently repeats himself, and sometimes goes so far to state that he is repeating himself, and that the reader should refer back to a previous section.2) Many of the references are “so and so claims such and such” or references to the Home Power magazine. It’s great that the author cites his sources, but it often left me wondering if the author placed any stock in the claim being reported.3) The author frequently refers to his own house, which was designed from the ground up to use renewable energy. While this is neat, it doesn’t seem applicable to readers who already own houses (with a 99% chance that they’re not nearly as efficient, and that it’s not possible to convert them).4) I would have enjoyed more information on…