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| The Renewable Energy Handbook: A Guide to Rural Energy Independence, Off-Grid and Sustainable Living | 
 enlarge | Author: William H. Kemp
Publisher: Aztext Press
Category: Book
List Price: $29.95
Buy New: $18.03
You Save: $11.92 (40%)
New (26) Used (11) from $18.03
Avg. Customer Rating:  18 reviews
Sales Rank: 12917
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 592
Shipping Weight (lbs): 2
Dimensions (in): 8.7 x 6 x 1.5
ISBN: 0973323329
Dewey Decimal Number: 621.042
EAN: 9780973323320
ASIN: 0973323329
Publication Date: April 1, 2006
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: Absolutely Brand New & In Stock. 100% 30-Day Money Back. Direct from our warehouse. Ships by USPS. 1+ million customers served-In business since 1986. Happy Customers is Our #1 Goal. Toll Free Support
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| Customer Reviews:
 Renewable Energy Handbook June 2, 2008
6 out of 9 found this review helpful
This book is worthless, It's best use would be to use the pages to start the fire in your wood stove. The writer wastes more then half the book to expound his religion. The information that is provided is out dated and just a reprint of manufacturers information. Don't waste your money or your time.
 Highly Recommended Reference May 4, 2008
3 out of 4 found this review helpful
Kemp's "Renewable Energy Handbook" is an excellent reference on the various R.E. resources available today. It provides insight on the various resources, their use, and their drawbacks in certain situations. Kemp does not try to sway the user in any particular direction. Rather, he provides solid information for the user to make their own decision.
Presentation of various real-world R.E. installations provide the user with some practical info, providing a nice balance to the theory in the book. One item that provided a slight irritation for me is the "preachy-ness" when he covers biofuels, but with the current trend in oil prices and the search for alternates, I'll overlook it since there are also some valid warnings about working with alternate fuels
I highly recommend this as a first-read book for a homeowner considering using any type of R.E. resources. Since R.E. information can change rapidly, make sure you are purchasing the most recent edition.
To be fair...read on... May 1, 2008
15 out of 35 found this review helpful
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 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.
Great solar and sustainable energy home book April 16, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
This book, in my opinion, is the best overall coverage of energy savings and sustainable energy systems for home owners I have read. There are a few typos but whos cares.
I do think, since I am a chemist, he understates the dangers of handling caustic in the description of preparing biodiesel.
Methanol is flamable but caustic is much worse than acid to handle!
The author obviously has a lot of direct experince with most of the areas he covers and his first chapter is wonderful for anyone whether they contemplate building a truely energy selfsufficient home or not.
I highly recommend the book and compliment the author for writing and publishing it.
 Good overview of reducing dependance on the Grid January 24, 2008
9 out of 10 found this review helpful
I'm building a new house and I want to make sure it's the most energy efficient house I can afford to build, so I got this book to help look at some of the decisions like Solar PV, Solar water heating, Wind and Micro hydroelectric. I have been happy so far, the discussion on insulating so far has been geared toward existing houses but it's interesting to note that insulating the basement may give you a higher payback than more insulation in the attic.
I didn't understand what net-metering allows you to do before reading this book, although living in Georgia makes a PV system cost prohibitive since there are no state rebates.
Solar hot water looks very feasible and should have a pretty quick payback.
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