E-Book Overview
The coming energy crisis caused by a peak in global oil and natural gas production will profoundly affect the lives of all North Americans. As the price of these vital fuels rises, homeowners will scramble to cut their fuel bills. Two options for meeting the upcoming challenge are dramatic improvements in home energy efficiency and efforts to tap into clean, affordable, renewable energy resources to heat and cool homes, to provide hot water and electricity, and even to cook. These measures can result in huge savings and a level of energy independence. The Homeowner’s Guide to Renewable Energy tells you how. It starts by outlining the likely impacts of fossil fuel shortages and some basic facts about energy. It then discusses energy conservation to slash energy bills and prepare for renewable energy options. Focusing carefully on specific strategies needed to replace specific fuels, the book then examines each practical energy option available to homeowners: • Solar hot water, cooking, and water purification • Space heat: passive and active solar retrofits • Wood heat • Passive cooling • Solar electricity • Wind-generated electricity • Electricity from microhydropower sources • Emerging technologies—hydrogen, fuel cells, methane digesters, and biodiesel The Homeowner’s Guide to Renewable Energy gives readers sufficient knowledge to hire and communicate effectively with contractors and, for those wanting do installations themselves, it recommends more detailed manuals. With a complete resource listing, this well-illustrated and accessible guide is a perfect companion for illuminating the coming dark age. Dan Chiras has studied renewable energy and energy efficiency for three decades and has installed several renewable energy systems. He lives in a self-designed passive solar/solar electric home. An award-winning author of over 20 books, he is a sustainability design consultant who teaches courses on renewable energy, green building, and sustainability at Colorado College.
E-Book Content
Advance Praise for
The Homeowner’s Guide to Renewable Energy Dan Chiras strikes again! With this latest addition to his already impressive list of titles, Dan makes it as easy as possible for you to effect your own transition away from fossil fuel dependence. I've never seen a more comprehensive, better written, or better organized primer on this subject. When you need practical advice from a warm, smart and informed human being, Dan Chiras is the one to turn to. — Bruce King, PE Director, Ecological Building Network, and author of Buildings of Earth and Straw and Making Better Concrete The Homeowner’s Guide to Renewable Energy makes abundantly clear the predicament that humankind has created regarding how we procure and use energy. Ways that we might extricate ourselves from this predicament are placed squarely on the shoulders of renewable forms of energy, rather than fossil fuels. This book shows how we, as individuals, have the power and technology available now to embrace renewable energy for a bright future. — Kelly Hart, www.greenhomebuilding.com Who says home energy improvements have to be complicated, or boring? Dan Chiras' The Homeowner's Guide to Renewable Energy waltzes the reader gracefully through various efficiency upgrades that put household heat and coolness in their proper places, then expertly jazz-dances through state-of-the-art technologies like solar electricity, heat pumps, and biodiesel fuel. This easy-to-understand, timely book should be distributed by local governments and utilities to homeowners throughout the country. Imagine how much less dependent we'd be on uncertain, expensive supplies of oil and natural gas! — Dave Wann, coauthor of Affluenza: The All-Consuming Epidemic and Superbia! 31 Ways to Create Sustainable Neighborhoods
Dan Chiras is one of the most authoritative writers in the field of renewa