The Renewable Energy Handbook: A Guide to Rural Energy Independence, Off-Grid and Sustainable Living

• The Homeowner's Guide to Renewable Energy: Achieving Energy Independence through Solar, Wind, Biomass and Hydropower (Mother Earth News Wiser Living)
• Got Sun? Go Solar: Get Free Renewable Energy to Power Your Grid-Tied Home
• Wind Power, Revised Edition: Renewable Energy for Home, Farm, and Business
• Solar Water Heating: A Comprehensive Guide to Solar Water and Space Heating Systems (Mother Earth News Wiser Living Series)
• The Solar House: Passive Heating and Cooling

As oil prices continue to rise, many people are starting to think about how to unhook from the power grid. The Renewable Energy Handbook focuses completely on off-grid, sustainable living and energy independence in a rural setting.

Author William Kemp and his wife designed their own high-efficiency off-grid home in 1991. They worked methodically to produce a home which has all of the standard "middle-class" creature comforts while using six times less heating, cooling, and electrical energy than the average Ontario home. Soon they were inundated with inquiries and decided to put their experience into book form in 2003.

This updated edition focuses specifically on off-grid concerns and contains chapters on:

Energy conservation
Heating and cooling
Photovoltaic, wind and microhydro energy generation
Battery selection, voltage regulation and inverters
Backup power

Twice the page count of the first edition, it also includes enhanced chapters on home and domestic water heating, wireless communications and biofuels. A "Showcase of Homes" chapter provides a tour of various off-grid cottages and homes, and details the type of lifestyle that can be achieved for a given capital cost. The book is augmented with appendices and hundreds of illustrations, line drawings and photographs.

William Kemp is VP Engineering of Powerbase Automation Systems Inc. and a consulting electronics/software designer who develops control systems for low environmental impact hydroelectric utilities worldwide. He is a sustainable living and clean energy advocate working in renewable energy heating, energy efficiency, photovoltaic, microhydro and wind electric systems.

This book is a web site printed out in large type. Books printed thirty years earlier are more usefull.

Helpful and informative. you don't have to be ultra-tech-savvy to understand it). Easy to understand diagrams and explanations in plain English (i.e.

Lots of useful info. Gives you a new way to look at the world.

I would have given this book a four-star rating if not for the preaching that permeated each chapter. Descriptions on different methods/technologies to accommodate the want to be self-sufficient when it comes to electrical power are comprehensive. I didn't buy this book to learn how to save the planet from evil, wasteful humans. Having written that, the author does a good job explaining varied methods to exist without relying on the commercial power grid.

William Kemp does an excellent job of explaining and organizing your options for renewable energy sources. I bought this book to understand my options for my new build. Even for the beginner, this is an easy to read and understand, and can be used as a reference guide.