The Renewable Energy Home Handbook

Wouldn’t it be fantastic to never get an electric or heating bill again? Even better – to get a check from the electric company for the surplus electricity you’ve generated? If this is your dream, The Renewable Energy Home Handbook by Lindsay Porter is a nice starting resource.

Porter discusses a nice range of technologies from simple solar to more complex, like wind turbines (although not so many types as to be overwhelmed). There is also great advice such as how to choose installers and how to care for appliances to reduce your costs. This book contains lots of useful information, such as an interesting table in Chapter 2: Insulation and Energy Saving, that shows the percentage of heat loss in homes and how effective insulation can improve cost and heating efficiency.

“The quickest, most cost-effective and often least disruptive way to save money and cut down carbon dioxide production is to reduce heat loss from your house.”

Because this book was published in the UK, I was concerned about the usefulness to those in other countries. The author discusses so many general issues that this will be relevant to anyone. The inclusion of both metric and non-metric measurements isn’t consistent, but that is easily remedied thanks to internet conversion sites. There are many useful photos – at times it’s difficult to differentiate between text and photo caption.

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