Tag Archives: Solar

Solar Power Your Home For Dummies

Solar Power Your Home For Dummies

Solar Power Your Home For Dummies

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:

  • Choose and install your best solar system
  • Handle small to large solar projects
  • Heat and cool your house with solar energy
  • Install exterior solar lighting
  • Handle swimming pool, water heater, or ventilation solar projects
  • Create greenhouses or solar rooms
  • Build, buy, or sell a solar home
  • Finance your solar investments
  • Take advantage of tax rebates and incentives associated with solar power
  • Avoid the worst solar mistakes

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!

Solar Radiation and Daylight Models, Second Edition: For the Energy Efficient Design of Buildings

Solar Radiation and Daylight Models, Second Edition: For the Energy Efficient Design of Buildings

Solar Radiation and Daylight Models, Second Edition: For the Energy Efficient Design of BuildingsAuthor(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

Build an Extreme Green Hot Water Solar Collector

Build an Extreme Green Hot Water Solar Collector

Build an Extreme Green Hot Water Solar CollectorAuthor: Phillip Rastocny

Format: Kindle Edition

File Size: 836 KB

ASIN: B0043EWW7S

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These instructions describe how to build a passive solar hot water collector using your existing hot water heater. This solar collector uses no pumps or additional electricity to operate and assembled without pipe bending. The instructions include a complete materials list with prices and part numbers from a large well known hardware store.

The Second Edition adds a solar-powered pump solution when collector positioing, long pipe runs, or other issues do not permit proper thermo-siphoning. Also included is a new appendix for troubleshooting common issues, and small changes in the text body with new illustrations to further clarify some of the existing steps.

This is an advanced project that requires good skills in silver soldering and custom plumbing fabrication.

Solar Radiation and Daylight Models for the Energy Efficient Design of Buildings

Solar Radiation and Daylight Models for the Energy Efficient Design of Buildings

Solar Radiation and Daylight Models for the Energy Efficient Design of Buildings

Author(s): H. Kambezidis, Tariq Muneer, Peter Tregenza

Publisher: Architectural Press (September 29, 1997)

Paperback: 224 pages

ISBN: 0750624957

ISBN-13: 978-0750624954

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Book & Cd-Rom Edition

This book and CD Rom package provides an accessible, user-friendly database on daylight design data. With the boom in interest in energy-efficiency and solar design, it provides a valuable source for architects and engineers.

It describes models which can be used to provide essential data at any place in the world. These models are included on a disk to ease the task of the architect or engineers. The authors show how these models can be applied to the energy efficient design of buildings.

—

‘The value of this book is that an expert in the subject has made a personal selection of applicable formulae, and presented them in a comprehensive and consistent format, both on paper and in the form of computer programs. Books such as this are indispensable references for the research worker and for the practising engineer.’
Peter Tregenza, The University of Sheffield

Sun, Wind & Light: Architectural Design Strategies, 2nd Edition

Sun, Wind & Light: Architectural Design Strategies, 2nd Edition

Sun, Wind & Light: Architectural Design Strategies, 2nd Edition

Author(s): G. Z. Brown and Mark DeKay

Paperback: 400 pages

Publisher: Wiley; 2 edition (October 24, 2000)

Language: English

ISBN-10: 0471348775

ISBN-13: 978-0471348771

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Shaped to the broad conceptual needs of the designer at the schematic design stage, this book presents the methods necessary for the efficient interplay of nature — sun, wind and light–and architectural forms–building groups, buildings and building parts — when designing buildings. The material helps architectural designers understand the energy consequences of their most basic design decisions and how to use energy issues as inspiration rather than as limits to be accomodated.

Sun, Wind and Light was developed for rapid use during schematic design. It clarifies the relationship between form and energy and gives designers valuable tools for sustainable design. It also:

* Applies the latest passive energy and lighting design research.
* Organizes information by architectural elements at three scales: building groups, individual buildings and building parts.
* Brings design strategies to life with examples and practical design tools.

Sun, Wind and Light features 109 analysis techniques and design strategies. Metric and inch-pound units are used.

The overall organization — from analysis techniques, design strategies, to strategies for supplementing passive systems — allows the designer to make sure, swift progress from the articulation of a strategy to its well-conceived rendering on paper. G.Z. Brown is a registered architect and professor of architecture at the University of Oregon. Mark DeKay is a registered architect, assistant professor of architecture at Washington University and a 2000 Fulbright Fellow to India. Illustrations by Virginia Cartwright, Mark DeKay, Chi-Wen Hung, Pallavi Kalia, Arjun Mande.

382-page book, 750 illustrations, charts and tables, 2001

The Passive Solar Design and Construction Handbook

The Passive Solar Design and Construction Handbook

The Passive Solar Design and Construction Handbook

Author(s): Michael J. Crosbie (Editor)

Publisher: John Wiley & Sons

Hardcover: 291 pages

ISBN: 0471183083

ISBN-13: 978-0471183082

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Publication date: October 1997

The only complete guide to passive solar design and construction

The Passive Solar Design and Construction Handbook is an unbeatable guide for architects and building contractors who want to satisfy the growing demand for passive solar residential design. A complete revision of the bible of passive solar design originally published by the U.S. Department of Energy, this is the only comprehensive guide to adapting standard building practices to current passive solar applications. It supplies detailed, step-by-step information on all practical aspects of passive solar design and construction and fills you in on all the latest advances in materials and building techniques–including the most recent findings on material and assembly performance. You’ll also find the latest techniques for computer simulation and energy analysis.

This timely and informative book:
* Reviews passive solar design principles
* Discusses the unique design opportunities inherent in passive solar homes
* Describes the various solar home types
* Introduces the principles of “whole-house” design
* Includes more than 300 illustrations, complete construction details and notes, and dozens of helpful case studies
* Explores important regional issues, such as termite shields, pressure treating wood, attic ventilation, and special structural requirements in seismic areas.

For building contractors, architects, and anyone interested in state-of-the-art passive solar construction, The Passive Solar Design and Construction Handbook saves hours of research and provides the complete, authoritative, up-to-date information that professionals need to take on a challenging job with confidence.

From the Publisher

The bible of passive solar design has been completely revised and updated. Extensive use of detailed drawings and case studies provide design and construction specifics. Includes updated information on material and assembly performance and computer simulation and analysis, plus the latest advances in materials and techniques.

Table of Contents
Passive Solar Fundamentals
Direct Gain
Thermal Storage Wall
Attached Sunspace
Convective Loop
Materials
Glossary
Bibliography
Index.

Reinventing Fire

Reinventing Fire

Reinventing Fire

Author: Amory Lovins
Hardcover: 352 pages
Publisher: Chelsea Green Publishing (October 15, 2011)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1603583718
ISBN-13: 978-1603583718

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Chelsea Green
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How U.S. businesses can lead the nation from oil and coal to efficiency and renewables by 2050, and profit in the process

Oil and coal have built our civilization, created our wealth, and enriched the lives of billions. Yet their rising costs to our security, economy, health, and environment now outweigh their benefits. Moreover, that long-awaited energy tipping point—where alternatives work better than oil and coal and compete purely on cost—is no longer decades in the future. It is here and now. And it is the fulcrum of economic transformation.

A global clean energy race has emerged with astounding speed. The ability to operate without fossil fuels will define winners and losers in business—and among nations.

Now, in Reinventing Fire, Amory Lovins and Rocky Mountain Institute offer a new vision to revitalize business models, end-run Washington gridlock, and win the clean energy race—not forced by public policy but led by business for enduring profit. Grounded in 30 years’ practical experience, this ground-breaking, peer-reviewed analysis integrates market-based solutions across transportation, buildings, industry, and electricity. It maps pathways and competitive strategies for a 158%-bigger 2050 U.S. economy that needs no oil, no coal, no nuclear energy, one-third less natural gas, and no new inventions. This transition would cost $5 trillion less than business-as-usual—without counting fossil fuels’ huge hidden costs. It requires no new federal taxes, subsidies, mandates, or laws. The policy innovations needed to unlock and speed it need no Act of Congress.

Whether you care most about profits and jobs, national security, health, or environmental stewardship, Reinventing Fire charts a pragmatic course that makes sense and makes money. With clarity and mastery, Lovins and RMI reveal the astounding opportunities for enterprise to create the new energy era.

The Solar House: Passive Heating and Cooling

The Solar House: Passive Heating and Cooling

The Solar House: Passive Heating and CoolingAuthor(s): Dan Chiras
Paperback: 286 pages
Publisher: Chelsea Green (October 1, 2002)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1931498121
ISBN-13: 978-1931498128

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Passive solar heating and passive cooling—approaches known as natural conditioning—provide comfort throughout the year by reducing, or eliminating, the need for fossil fuel. Yet while heat from sunlight and ventilation from breezes is free for the taking, few modern architects or builders really understand the principles involved. Now Dan Chiras, author of the popular book “The Natural House,” brings those principles up to date for a new generation of solar enthusiasts. The techniques required to heat and cool a building passively have been used for thousands of years. Early societies such as the Native American Anasazis and the ancient Greeks perfected designs that effectively exploited these natural processes. The Greeks considered anyone who didn’t use passive solar to heat a home to be a barbarian! In the United States, passive solar architecture experienced a major resurgence of interest in the 1970s in response to crippling oil embargoes. With grand enthusiasm but with scant knowledge (and sometimes little common sense), architects and builders created a wide variety of solar homes. Some worked pretty well, but looked more like laboratories than houses. Others performed poorly, overheating in the summer because of excessive or misplaced windows and skylights, and growing chilly in the colder months because of insufficient thermal mass and insulation and poor siting. In “The Solar House,” Dan Chiras sets the record straight on the vast potential for passive heating and cooling. Acknowledging the good intentions of misguided solar designers in the past, he highlights certain egregious—and entirely avoidable—errors. More importantly, Chiras explains in methodical detail how today’s home builders can succeed with solar designs. Now that energy efficiency measures including higher levels of insulation and multi-layered glazing have become standard, it is easier than ever before to create a comfortable and affordable passive solar house that will provide year-round comfort in any climate. Moreover, since modern building materials and airtight construction methods sometimes result in air-quality and even toxicity problems, Chiras explains state-of-the-art ventilation and filtering techniques that complement the ancient solar strategies of thermal mass and daylighting. Chiras also explains the new diagnostic aids available in printed worksheet or software formats, allowing readers to generate their own design schemes.

Thermal Delight in Architecture

Thermal Delight in Architecture

Thermal Delight in ArchitectureAuthor(s): Lisa Heschong

Publisher: Mit Press

ISBN: 026258039X

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Our thermal environment is as rich in cultural associations as our visual, acoustic, olfactory, and tactile environments. This book explores the potential for using thermal qualities as an expressive element in building design.Until quite recently, building technology and design has favored high-energy-consuming mechanical methods of neutralizing the thermal environment. It has not responded to the various ways that people use, remember, and care about the thermal environment and how they associate their thermal sense with their other senses. The hearth fire, the sauna, the Roman and Japanese baths, and the Islamic garden are discussed as archetypes of thermal delight about which rituals have developed — reinforcing bonds of affection and ceremony forged in the thermal experience. Not only is thermal symbolism now obsolete but the modern emphasis on central heating systems and air conditioning and hermetically sealed buildings has actually damaged our thermal coping and sensing mechanisms. This book for the solar age could help change all that and open up for us a new dimension of architectural experience.

Paperback
Publication date: January 1980

The Independent Home : Living Well With Power from the Sun, Wind, and Water

Cover, The Independent Home : Living Well With Power from the Sun, Wind, and WaterAuthor(s): Michael Potts

Publisher: Chelsea Green Pub Co

ISBN: 0930031652

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Paperback, 224 pages
Publication date: October 1993

How-To Editor’s Recommended Book, 11/01/97:
Whether you already own a home or plan to build one, The Independent Home will show you how to transform it into an energy-efficient, comfortable, self-sustainable home of the future– right now. Michael Potts’s home has been featured on the ABC evening news as an example of the sane approach to simple living; he demonstrates how one can live well, save money, save resources, and still retain modern conveniences and comfort. The Independent Home proves that it is not necessary to live in mud-floored huts and cook brown rice over a campfire to go back to the land.

From Booklist , 10/15/93: An instructive guide to living without the electric and gas companies, by Potts and interviewees who have broken from the power grid. The homes of people interviewed are far from primitive, containing all the conveniences of modern life, though there is the occasional cold shower. Potts advocates a return not to nature, but to a more independent time, and that’s accomplished here mostly by college-educated people who like doing things for themselves. Their experiences are as instructive from a social point of view (a sort of enviro-ethic meets Yankee pragmatism) as for the many possible ways of converting your house to energy independence. Potts also suggests home improvements for energy savings in existing homes, as well as explanations of how our appliances, heating, and air-conditioning systems do–and don’t–work from an energy point of view. A commonsense approach to energy self-reliance. Copyright© 1993, American Library Association. All rights reserved

The author, Michael Potts: mpotts@solarnet.org , 08/31/96:
We can all learn from renewable energy pioneers It took me 20 years to get ready to write my book — tinkering, visiting, figuring arcane technology out — it is SO much easier now! But independent homesteaders offer us all lessons on using our energy better. We waste half the energy we buy, while they, who carefully harvest every electron, teaspoon of water, and therm of heat, strive to waste as little as possible. This work reconnects them with the planet in ways we all need to emulate as the last fossil fuel energy crisis takes us over. There are important lessons in my book about phantom loads, free energy sources, and small habit changes that have helped many on-the-gridders reduce their energy bills by 30% – 60% — enough to buy a new copy of my book (and give it to a friend) every month! I am continuing the work and planning a new book for the rest of us, who in the next 20 years will have to reform our own domestic energy use. Please visit my web page: www.solarnet.org for ideas and to help me gather the best energy tips.

Customer Comments

jonwil@primenet.com , 10/09/96, rating=9:
Required reading for all homosapiens! Because of my total infatuation with the first book (I’m assuming, first) I would get the next without question. Occasionally, this is a mistake, but I don’t think it will be a disappointment. Please quote anything from me regarding how great I think this work is. I find the book an escape on the line of the old, big Sears catalogs that we called the wish book when I was a kid. An often somewhat dry subject spiced with real people living the life. I have read and re-read it many times. I hope for for a sequel that dipicts the continuing state of the art and the folks he interviewd 5 years later. A style with the technical interspersed with the personalities is very refreshing. It’s like learning while reading People Magazine. I felt myself wanting to read more about the people and their feelings. Where Potts injected his opinions, this made me want to read more of what he thought about the life styles and conditions he visited. His opinions about the building departments and reglatory agencies were right on! I wanted to go storm the local building Department with his book in hand as ammunition.

Table of Contents
Foreword By John Schaeffer
Introduction
Ch. 1. Declaring Independence vCh. 2. Homework: Outgrowing Dependence
Ch. 3. Harvesting Our Own Power
Ch. 4. Home Utilities
Ch. 5. The Tree Game: Reckoning Our Footprints On the Planet
Ch. 6. Choosing a Site for Energy
Ch. 7. Planning a New Independent Home
Ch. 8. Building the Home Energy Machine
Ch. 9. Pioneering and Settling the New Energy Frontier
Ch. 10. Home Entropy: Improvements and Repairs
Ch. 11. Growing With the Land
Ch. 12. Generalists and Specialists
Ch. 13. Living With Constant Change
Ch. 14. Solar Neighborhoods
Ch. 15. Independent Futures
Glossary
Bibliography
Resource List
Index