Authors: Matts Myhrman and S. O. McDonald
One of the original books on straw bale contrstuction
Now available as a series of free PDFs thanks to the Authors
Build It With Bales – full book
Front Cover through Q&A (13 pages, includes table of contents, intro, how to use)
Build It With Bales Part Two: Steps 1-3
Build It With Bales Part Two: Steps 4-6
Authors: Athena & Bill Steen and Wayne Bingham
Publisher: Gibbs Smith
Paperback: 240 pages
ISBN-10: 1586855158
ISBN-13: 978-1586855154
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Review from Mark Piepkorn, former editor of The Last Straw Journal:
A copy of the new book Small Strawbale: Natural Homes, Projects & Designs by Athena & Bill Steen and Wayne Bingham, published by Gibbs Smith, came into the office today. It’s gorgeous, like all the projects the Steens involve themselves with – and, as usual, it opens doors beyond strawbale. Love them for that.
Chapters include Garden Walls & Fences, Open-Air Structures, Greenhouses, Canelo Outbuildings (that’s their place), Tiny Studios & Meditation Retreats, The Shed Roof, The Gable Roof, Small Houses, and Clustered Compounds.
Most of the photos are sumptuous, the accompanying text insightful and inspiring – not at all overbearing. It’s not a how to *build* book, but a *how* to build book. It was an excellent surprise to see the Lander’s beautiful Shimizu-gaki bamboo gate featured (and later in the book their home, with a photo of them that makes me miss them even more), several of Athena’s stunning murals, and – Jack’s Flat! Kudos to Mr. Glassford!
This book fires my imagination and gives me joy.
Author(s): J. C. Jenkins
Publisher: Chelsea Green Pub Co
ISBN: 0964425890
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Written in laypeople’s terms by a humanure composting practitioner with twenty years’ experience, this book is for anyone interested in a unique topic that is fundamentally related to every human being on planet Earth.
The second edition of The Humanure Handbook is completely revised, expanded, and updated, but retains that element of improbable humor that made this book an underground classic. This fascinating, one-of-a-kind book tells you how to safely recycle human manure, and includes color photographs of humanure-compost gardens, listings for international commercial compost toilet sources and manufacturers, and a list of backyard composting bin and compost thermometer retailers. This new edition also contains a chapter on alternative graywater systems; illustrated, step-by-step instructions for building a simple, low-cost, composting toilet for household, camp, or emergency use; current information about community-level composting; and the latest material on composting microbiology.
From the author, J. C. Jenkins (JCJenkins@JenkinsPublishing.com) , 11/29/96:
This may be the start of a Big Movement.
This is the 3rd edition of a self-published book. No respectable publisher would touch it with a ten foot shovel. The 1st edition of Humanurewas published in 1994 with a print run of 660 copies, which the author fully expected would last the rest of his life.Now, 11 years later, the book has sold over 25,000 copies in at least 59 countries worldwide and has been published in foreign editions on four continents. The 2nd Edition was a 2000 Independent Publisher Outstanding Book of the Year, deemed the book “Most Likely to Save the Planet,” a 2000 Finalist in ForeWord Magazine’s Book of the Year Awards, and a Finalist in the 2000 Benjamin Franklin Awards for Excellence in Publishing. It was an Amazon.com #1 bestseller in its category for several years, and has been reviewed by Mother Earth News, Whole Earth Review, Countryside Journal, The Journal of Environmental Quality, Natural Health, and many other popular print media. It has been talked about on NPR, BBC, CBC, Howard Stern, The Wall Street Journal, Playboy Magazine, Organic Gardening Magazine and many other national and international venues.
Author(s): Gary Selden, Robert O. Becker, David Bichell
Publisher: William Morrow Paperbacks; 1 edition (July 22, 1998)
Paperback: 368 pages
ISBN: 0688069711
ISBN-13: 978-0688069711
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The Body Electric tells the fascinating story of our bioelectric selves. Robert O. Becker, a pioneer in the filed of regeneration and its relationship to electrical currents in living things, challenges the established mechanistic understanding of the body. He found clues to the healing process in the long-discarded theory that electricity is vital to life. But as exciting as Becker’s discoveries are, pointing to the day when human limbs, spinal cords, and organs may be regenerated after they have been damaged, equally fascinating is the story of Becker’s struggle to do such original work. The Body Electric explores new pathways in our understanding of evolution, acupuncture, psychic phenomena, and healing.
Author(s): Jeremy Thake
Publisher: Practical Action (February 2001)
Paperback: 240 pages
ISBN-10: 1853394602
ISBN-13: 978-1853394607
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Micro-hydro is a useful way of providing power to houses, workshops or villages that need an independent supply. For many remote areas beyond the reach of the national grid, micro-hydro is the only economic option. Where flow is limited, but terrain is steep, the Pelton wheel is one of the most useful turbines. Capable of producing a lot of power from a relatively small unit, Pelton turbines are reasonably easy to make and each size can be used at a wide range of sites
The Micro-hydro Pelton Turbine Manual is written to enable the reader to design and manufacture Pelton turbines themselves as might be necessary in developing countries. However, even if you can pick up the phone and order the turbine itself, you’ll find valuable information about how the principles of Pelton turbines that will help you select the right unit.
Aimed at readers with a general engineering workshop background, the emphasis is on simple technology, so that the turbines can be made in small workshops with basic engineering facilities. More advanced processes are discussed for those with access to better manufacturing facilities.
The Micro-hydro Pelton Turbine Manual details all the important aspects of design, including: basic theory, turbine selection, manufacture, installation, testing and problem-solving. The manual is well illustrated and contains many comprehensive appendices, which include manufacturing reference information and the derivation of equations used.
240 pages, 2001
Author: Rik DeGunther
Publisher: For Dummies (December 10, 2007)
Paperback: 384 pages
ISBN-10: 0470175699
ISBN-13: 978-0470175699
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Want to take advantage of solar power in your home? Whether you’re looking to save on your energy costs by adding a few solar components or you want to build a solar-powered house from the ground up, Solar Power For Dummies takes the mystery out of this energy source and shows you how to put it to work for you!
This friendly, hands-on guide is packed with tips for making your home more energy-efficient though solar power—and helping the planet at the same time. You’ll see how to survey your home to determine your current household energy efficiency and use, and evaluate where solar power would best benefit you. You’ll also calculate what the return on your investment will be before you make any decisions. Once you’ve decided on a project, you’ll see whether it’s best to hire a contractor or do it yourself. We leave no stone unturned—you’ll also discover how to:
Featuring ten of the easiest and cheapest do-it-yourself solar projects, Solar Power For Dummies is the fun and easy way to meet your energy needs with this clean power source!
Author(s): H. Kambezidis, Tariq Muneer, Peter Tregenza
Publisher: Butterworth-Heinemann (Trd)
Paperback: 392 pages
ISBN: 0750624957
ISBN-13: 978-0750659741
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The cost of operating a building far exceeds the cost of constructing it, and yet until recently little attention was paid to the impact of solar radiation on the costs of heating, cooling and ventilation. And now that there has been a surge in interest in energy efficiency and solar design, architects and designers need a practical guide to the modelling and application of solar energy data.
There are many different models and techniques available for calculating the distribution of solar radiation on and in buildings, and these algorithms vary considerably in scope, accuracy and complexity. This book demonstrates which of these predictive tools gives the best results in different circumstances, including explaining which models can be best used in different parts of the world.
The author has had over twenty-five years of experience of dealing with solar energy data from four continents and has used that experience in this book to show the development not just of knowledge but also the growing sophistication of the models available to apply it.
*Based on many years of first-hand experience with solar data
*Different models demonstrated and evaluated
*Calculations that can be used anywhere in the world
Book & Cd-Rom Edition
Paperback, 160 pages
October 1997
Author(s): Beth and Dan Halcy
Publisher: Morning Sun Press; Rep Sub edition (May 1992)
Paperback: 114 pages
ISBN-10: 0962906921
ISBN-13: 978-0962906923
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Cooking with the Sun, How to build and use solar cookers. by Beth and Dan Halcy.
A simple oven that reaches 400°F can be built for $20. in materials, and this book shows how to design a solar hotplate to reach 600°F, plus 100 recipes designed especially for solar cooking: solar stew, Texas biscuits, enchilada casserole and more!
7×10 , 116 pages , 27 b&w photographs
Author(s): Don Booth, Jonathan Booth, Peg Boyles
Publisher: Rodale Pr (September 1984)
Paperback:
ISBN: 0960442235
ISBN-13: 978-0960442232
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Hardbound:
ISBN-10: 0960442243
ISBN-13: 978-0960442249
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Back in 1983 Don Booth’s company, Community Builders was one of the premier developers of energy efficient homes in New England. This privately published book was probably written to help prospective customer’s understand the technology and boost sales. No matter what his reason, Don’s book became a classic of the genre. Calling upon his experience, he goes step-by-step through the theory and practice of building super insulated and passive solar/geothermal homes. The explanations are clear, the examples are informative and it provides just the right amount of technical detail. If you are planning to build a new home, read this book first. The principles you learn here will save you thousands of heating and cooling dollars. It has already saved me from a very expensive mistake.
Unlike most books on this topic, you can actually read this book without stunning your brain. Instead of bulking up the book with endless pages of sun elevation charts or conversion tables, Don includes twenty ‘reviews’ of solar/geothermal homes by their owners, designers and builders. These vary from the comic to the insane as the early pioneers struggle to build their dream homes. Some of these stories would make good movies. My personal favorite is the lady who lives in a tent on the site while her home is built. We watch with dismay as construction delays move completion deep into the cold New England winter. Finally, she moves gleefully into the shell while waiting for the windows, only to have her children complain that the tent was warmer. Who says we can’t learn from the mistakes of others.
Author(s): Kiko Denzer
Publisher: Hand Print Press; 3 Rev Exp edition (April 2007)
Paperback: 132 pages
ISBN-10: 096798467X
ISBN-13: 978-0967984674
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Learn how easy and practical an outdoor baking oven is to build and use. The design is a two layer retained heat oven, and can be built with onsite materials such as earth and sand, and uses a brick base-floor, or even an earthen floor. These ovens burn a small amount of wood, get very hot, and allow you to bake breads and meals slowly after the coals have been raked out.
Kiko sculpts his ovens with wonderful animal and nature shapes.
Imagine a huge Phoenix bird, its belly the oven, the flue its throat, with smoke escaping from the upturned beak! Children can help build these ovens, and play with earth at the same time. Complete instructions, 100 pages, 8.5×7, line drawings, and wonderful COLOR oven photographs of frog, squirrel, and Phoenix bird oven-bench, plus B&W of a snail and other fanciful ovens.