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The Complete Idiot's Guide to Solar Power for your Home, 2nd Edition
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Product Description

The perfect source for solar power—fully illustrated.

Solar Power (photovoltaics) is now a one-billion-dollar industry, and it’s poised to grow rapidly in the near future as more pressure is placed on limited fossil fuel resources and as advances in solar technology drive down the costs of residential solar systems. This book helps readers understand the basics of solar power and other renewable energy sources, explore whether solar power makes sense for them, what their options are, and what’s involved with installing various on and off-grid systems.

—Fully illustrated
—Covers every conceivable solar-power topic and concern, including updated information on the increasing number of state rebate and incentive programs

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Customer Reviews

Solar
 
Review Date: May 18, 2007
Reviewer: Diego Martinez, Colorado, USA
This is a great book on solar, lots of great references. I would recommend this book to anyone interested in solar. Its a bit lean on actually installing a solar power system on your home. But It is very adequate for anyone interested in having someone install solar on their home.
Great guide, saved me a lot of money...
 
Review Date: February 9, 2009
Reviewer: Ryan Barnhart, Cincinnati, OH USA
...because it basically talked me out of converting my house to solar power. I'll convert eventually, or better yet build a solar home from scratch. But using the information in this guide I discovered that the electricity rates in the Midwest make solar or wind power pretty unattractive in 2009. This guide also helped me to reduce my energy bill, and has paid for itself time and time again. Highly recommended.
Solar Power
 
Review Date: May 27, 2010
Reviewer: Joseph S. Maresca, Bronxville, New York USA
Solar Power for Your Home
by David Hughes et al. Alpha Publishers 2010

Reviewed by: Dr. Joseph S. Maresca

This is an excellent guide for anyone planning to install
solar energy panels in a home or take advantage of the sale
of excess renewable power to the local electric company .
The work describes solar power functionality
and solar energy at work. The processes described are perfect
for communities and third world countries operating without
public utilities.

The process has a solar energy module consisting of a
charge controller,battery with an offshoot to a DC load
or AC load and an inverter for the AC load.
The payback for the solar system is through a federal tax
credit, solar rebates, selling power to the local utilities
or renewable energy credits.

There are several big initiatives going on right now like
the Million Solar Roofs Initiative. The American Recovery
Reinvestment Act is responsible for solar energy promotion
on federal buildings. Solar energy may be financed
through consumer loans, a 1st or 2nd mortgage, as well as
special federal programs like Title I loans.
Fannie Mae has a REEIL loan program.

Prebuilt solar homes are advertised at greenhomesforsale.
There are alternate solar panel designs like the solar panel
rack mounted at ground level.
Designers of solar systems must take into consideration
the sun's noontime height above the horizon and the seasonal
changes involving the sun repositioning. Solar panels
may be installed on a garage roof instead of the roof
of the home.

A residential solar system can cost $30T to $40T or $6 to $8.
per watt. Batteries may be needed for backup systems.
Inverters change DC to AC electricity. Air warmed in the
sunspace travels on its own throughout the home. Wing wells can
accelerate the natural breeze in the interior.

Both individuals and businesses generate excess renewable
energy which can be sold to the community as an additional revenue
source. The National Electric Code (NEC)for residential solar
power governs installations under Article 690. Homeowners must
remember to obtain adequate insurance coverage for the solar
installation and any customizations. The volume has an excellent
appendix with extensive drawings throughout and a section on
Energy Efficiency Resources throughout the USA.

This book would be an excellent acquisition for anyone
planning to build or implement solar energy panels on a
residential or industrial property. The cost of the
acquisition is modest at under $20.00. The book is recommended
highly to the readership.
Not Just for Idiots!
 
Review Date: June 12, 2008
Reviewer: Kenneth Clive, Minneapolis, Minnesota USA
The title is disparaging but the contents are excellent! Anyone considering attempting to learn about Solar Power should read this book. It has an excellent chart for determining what you should consider before you start your project. It is written in easy to understand language that a lay person can easily understand. I highly recommend it.
To be fair...(REVISED - I HAVE READ IT...same...2 stars)
 
Review Date: May 1, 2008
Reviewer: A. Evangelista, Chicago (Naperville), IL
Sept 08, 2008 Revision: After borrrowing this book from a friend to read it thoroughly, I still give it 2 stars BUT...
- the book is fairly thorough, concise, and comprehensive in its coverage of residential solar. It does cover nearly every introductory topic and question a home owner new to solar energy might ask.
- it goes into topics such as the history of solar, developments past present and future, batteries, Do-It-Yourself issues and concerns, inverter operation and general info, identifying and hiring a contractor, inspection issues, brief mention of the NEC (Natl Electric Code), federal and state solar incentives, and so much more.
And it does this in a very few short pages - don't let the 336 pages fool you. The meat of the book is actually in less than 200 pages of writing.

Given that it covers nearly ALL the topics in one book - in ONE PLACE - in a VERY QUICK read of 200+ pages - FOR LESS THAN $15.00, I actually give this 5 STARS for VALUE AND TIME well spent. (If you have ANY technical background, you'll cover the entire book in one night of reading.) But why 2 stars then? Well, if you are serious about installing solar, after reading this book you will come to realize that you still need to know so much more. Inevitably, you WILL have to talk to your municipal inspector, spend some time researching solar contractors, and quite a bit of time understanding the requirements of the incentives offered by your utility/city/state/federal govt - in all, that's at least another 10-24 hours of research, discussion, and reading. A book costing 2-3 times as much with much more detail might therefore be more beneficial. Or simply following the FREE links, as I originally espoused below, might still be the best approach since either way it is going to take time to understand it all - but only if you really are serious about installing residential solar. Otherwise, if you simply want to gain enough insights to evaluate solar, and determine its prospects for your home and situation, then this is a very good book for you.

BTW, this book is very similar to the other "Dummies" Book - "Solar Power Your Home For Dummies (For Dummies Series)".

ORIGINAL REVIEW COMMENTS ON MAY 1, 2008: To be fair, I have not read this book. Why 5 stars? The book is a for-profit venture by the author, so recovery of time, effort, & energy is important for revenue reasons. So why write this review? After spending nearly 12-18 hours perusing AMAZON's book list on solar energy and photovoltaic systems, I was frustrated! None of the reviews on any single book seemed to be convincing enough to make me want to buy. For instance, none of the reviews mention how the books address the National Electric Code, specific wiring and disconnect installation information, electrical and other safety hazards, inspection issues, etc. For a DIY'er, these books seemed a waste of time, never mind the fact that some reviewers insisted they actually DIY'ed just from the book. It then occurred to me that dozens of resources that I had used over the past 10 years - with the exception of 2007 due to extenuating circumstances - many resources are available for free from our fantastic .GOV, .ORG, and .EDU sites like Sandia Nat'l Labs, NREL, NMSU, and CA.GOV. Folks, before you start buying books on PV left & right, be smart and leverage what your fine tax dollars paid for! I have to admit - I believe it's just stupid searching for good PV technical, installation, and detailed literature on a For-Profit Bookstore when so much is already available online for Free. Folks, use your head - our government and academic labs pioneered this from federal tax dollars. Hence, much of it is public domain! (REPLACE all "?" with "." in the following website links.) nabcep?org nmsu?edu/~tdi/index?html photovoltaics?sandia?gov and energy?ca?gov - just to name a few! Of course, if you're just not Internet savvy, not an engineer/analytical A-type personality, and highly resourceful, plus you'd rather prefer to kill trees buying a book instead of leveraging online resources that are 100 times more than what's on AMAZON, and most likely don't have the wherewithal to DIY, go ahead. It will be amazing to see how many are simply duped by the thousands of new "get rich quick" companies and businessmen entering the renewable energy markets.

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