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 - The Homeowner's Guide to Renewable Energy: Achievi... This is an excellent book, because it has much information in general, different green ideas for your home. And that is important for you and the Planet today and future. Rating:  - Great DirectionMy wife and I are in the process of designing our retirement home here in the Colorado foothills. We want to build one that is both energy efficient/independent and retain that "curb appeal". This book has provided us with a great many ideas that will help us achieve that goal. Rating: - renewable energyI think this book was great, very informative but I wished there were more pics to go along with the techniques. Overall I love it! Rating: - Renewable Energy for the MassesThis is a good book for people who want a better understanding of what can be achieved using renewable energy in a residential application. It only gets 4 stars from me because the author gets a bit preachy at times about his opinions on fossil fuels and future scarcity, high price, etc. He does practice what he preaches and uses personal examples in much of the book. Rating: - A great resource for selecting the best RE options for your homeThis 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 still found a lot of useful information in this book.
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