The Renewable Energy Home Handbook

Bought this as a gift for my father-in-law, and he LOVED it! If renewable energy/green lioving are your thing (they're definitely his), then I can imagine you will appreciate this book as much as he did.

Good book to have

nice projects

While titled a handbook, this book is really much more. It is a practical manual covering the most effective and available renewable energy applications for the home The format follows the better 'how to' manuals and is profusely illustrated with clear photographs, diagrams and tables.A detailed background and introduction to renewables, and an energy saving, insulation and monitoring chapter set the scene for the ten sections describing the installation of the various renewable energy technologies.There's a lot of science in the book, and for those (like me) daunted by this, or the mysteries within renewable energy technologies, Lindsay Porter writes in an easy to understand style without over simplifying the theory and applications in each of the technologies explained. He explains the environmental value of each type of renewable application, informed by an expressed strong personal commitment to good environmental practice.The content and excellent pictorial material obviously lends the book to school science class use.As the cover shows, the main home applications for renewable energy are explained, and each is illustrated with a step by step installation guide. Living in sunny Australia, I found the section on Solar PV Electricity Generation especially useful and informative.This is a generous book. Lindsay Porter acknowledges his sources, collaborators and contributors and he writes with obvious respect for his readers. This listed price make this book a bargain.PaulSouth Australia

I love this book it’s the one stop shop

This book is essentially a photo record of the various installations carried out at the author's house toether with a regurgitation of various manufacturer's information taken from their marketing/manuals/websites.The author states numerous times that it is essential that professionals are used for installing the various technologies referred to in the book and yet the author insists on telling readers screw and fitting sizes, cable and piping sizes, fittings and spanner sizes needed... and the book shows photos aplenty of installers and technicians fixing brackets, levelling cabinets, etc.. Why ?Some basic information is suspect: for example the author states "you can save 6.4kWh a year (on average) just by turning down the central heating thermostat by 1 degreeC." ... at about 15p per kWh that would save about 90p per year. The Energy Saving Trust estimates the annual saving to be more like £85-£90 per year (for 3-bedroom semi).