The Homeowner's Guide to Renewable Energy - Revised & Updated Edition

About the Author

Dan Chiras is a highly respected educator and the internationally acclaimed author of 30 books on residential renewable energy and green building including The Homeowner's Guide to Renewable Energy and Power from the Sun. Dan has studied and worked in renewable energy and energy efficiency fields for over three decades and is the president of Sustainable Systems Design and is the director and lead instructor at The Evergreen Institute's Center for Renewable Energy and Green Building (www.evergreeninstitute.org), where he teaches workshops on energy efficiency, solar electricity, solar hot water, small wind energy, green building, natural plasters, and natural building.

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Achieving Energy Independence through Solar, Wind, Biomass and Hydropower

by Dan Chiras

Energy bills have skyrocketed in North America, 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 availableincluding:

Solar hot water and solar hot air systems
Space heat: passive and active solar retrofits and heat pumps
Wood heat
Passive cooling
Electricity from solar, wind and microhydro
Hydrogen, 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 tipsand 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.