Energy Books

Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions

Dan Ariely

Amazon Price: $17.13 List Price: $25.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: HarperCollins Amazon Marketplace: 72 new & used starting at $13.00

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Total reviews: 146 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

• Why do our headaches persist after taking a one-cent aspirin but disappear when we take a 50-cent aspirin?
• Why does recalling the Ten Commandments reduce our tendency to lie, even when we couldn't possibly be caught?
• Why do we splurge on a lavish meal but cut coupons to save twenty-five cents on a can of soup?
• Why do we go back for second helpings at the unlimited buffet, even when our stomachs are already full?
• And how did we ever start spending $4.15 on a cup of coffee when, just a few years ago, we used to pay less than a dollar?

When it comes to making decisions in our lives, we think we're in control. We think we're making smart, rational choices. But are we?

In a series of illuminating, often surprising experiments, MIT behavioral economist Dan Ariely refutes the common assumption that we behave in fundamentally rational ways. Blending everyday experience with groundbreaking research, Ariely explains how expectations, emotions, social norms, and other invisible, seemingly illogical forces skew our reasoning abilities.

Not only do we make astonishingly simple mistakes every day, but we make the same types of mistakes, Ariely discovers. We consistently overpay, underestimate, and procrastinate. We fail to understand the profound effects of our emotions on what we want, and we overvalue what we already own. Yet these misguided behaviors are neither random nor senseless. They're systematic and predictable—making us predictably irrational.

From drinking coffee to losing weight, from buying a car to choosing a romantic partner, Ariely explains how to break through these systematic patterns of thought to make better decisions. Predictably Irrational will change the way we interact with the world—one small decision at a time.

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

William H. Kemp

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Total reviews: 20 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

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

Author/engineer William H. Kemp, who is a leading expert in small- and mid-scale renewable energy technologies, designed and built his own off-grid home. The result is a house that has all the standard “middle-class” creature comforts while using less than five times the total fossil-fuel energy of the average North American house.

The Renewable Energy Handbook focuses on the unique requirements of off-grid living and contains chapters on energy conservation; heating and cooling; backup power; domestic water heating; wireless communications; photovoltaic, wind, and microhydro energy generation; battery selection; and inverters.

Since its release in 2003, The Renewable Energy Handbook has been a top-selling technology book and is recognized as the best book in its field.

The book is augmented with hundreds of illustrations, line drawings, photographs, and appendices.

Photovoltaics: Design and Installation Manual

Solar Energy International

Amazon Price: $37.77 List Price: $59.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: New Society Publishers Amazon Marketplace: 44 new & used starting at $25.50

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Total reviews: 27 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

Producing electricity from the sun using photovoltaic (PV) systems has become a major industry worldwide. But designing, installing and maintaining such systems requires knowledge and training, and there have been few easily accessible, comprehensive guides to the subject.

Now, with Photovoltaics: Design and Installation Manual, a world-class solar energy training and education provider-Solar Energy International (SEI)-has made available the critical information to successfully design, install and maintain PV systems. The book contains an overview of photovoltaic electricity and a detailed description of PV system components, including PV modules, batteries, controllers and inverters. It also includes chapters on sizing photovoltaic systems, analyzing sites and installing PV systems, as well as detailed appendices on PV system maintenance, troubleshooting and solar insolation data for over 300 sites around the world. Used worldwide as the textbook in SEI's PV Design & Installation workshops, topics covered include:

The basics of solar electricity
PV applications and system components
Solar site analysis and mounting
Stand-alone and PV/generator hybrid system sizing
Utility-interactive PV systems
Component specification, system costs and economics
Case studies and safety issues

Photovoltaics guarantees that those wanting to learn the skills of tapping the sun's energy can do so with confidence.

Solar Energy International (SEI) has the nonprofit mission to respond to the need for renewable energy education. Based in Carbondale, Colorado, and active around the world, SEI is a link between people and renewable energy resources, providing information, education and training to people who want to shape a sustainable future. SEI is recognized by the National Board of Certified Energy Practitioners (NABCEP) as dedicated independent provider of PV training programs that may be used toward attaining PV certification. Also, SEI is recognized as an Accredited Institution to offer PV training by the Institute for Sustainable Power (ISP).

Got Sun? Go Solar: Get Free Renewable Energy to Power Your Grid-Tied Home

Rex A. Ewing; Doug Pratt

Amazon Price: $12.89 List Price: $18.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: PixyJack Press, LLC Amazon Marketplace: 31 new & used starting at $11.58

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 28 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

To be fair...read on... 5 out of 5 stars.
5 of 10 people 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 - 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.

Editorial Review:

A straight-talking book tells grid-connected homeowners how to use free energy from the sun and wind to reduce or even eliminate their electric bills, and what to expect from this independent, thoughtful lifestyle. Whether you live in the sun-soaked Southwest, or windy North Dakota, alternative energy has come of age with affordable modern technology. Now with rebates and incentives from most states, installing a home system is an economically-attractive and environmentally-responsible option. Chapters include: - Why invest in alternative energy for your home? - Is it legal and safe? - How solar electricity really works - Batteries or not? - Sizing a system to fit your home and your needs - Got Wind? - What does it cost? - Does your state offer rebates or incentives? - Permits, Paperwork and Financing - The Nuts & Bolts: what to look for, what to avoid - Who does the installation? - Extensive appendix with resources, manufacturers, sizing worksheets, glossary, and more

Solar Water Heating: A Comprehensive Guide to Solar Water and Space Heating Systems (Mother Earth News Wiser Living Series)

Bob Ramlow, Benjamin Nusz

Amazon Price: $16.47 List Price: $24.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: New Society Publishers Amazon Marketplace: 36 new & used starting at $15.32

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 16 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

Heating water with the sun is almost as old as humankind itself, and it is done all over the world. Yet there are strangely few resources on the topic in North America.

Solar Water Heating fills this gap. It reviews the history of solar water and space heating systems from prehistory to the present, then presents the basics of solar water heating, including an introduction to modern solar energy systems, energy conservation and energy economics. Drawing on the author's experience as an installer of these systems, the book goes on to cover:

• Types of solar collectors, solar water and space heating systems and solar pool heating systems, including their advantages and disadvantages
• System components, their installation, operation, and maintenance
• System sizing and siting
• Choosing the appropriate system.

Since people often get turned off by the up-front cost, the book focuses especially on the financial aspects of solar water or space heating systems, clearly showing that such systems can save significant costs in the long run. Well-illustrated, the book is designed for a wide readership from the curious to the student or professional.

Bob Ramlow is the solar thermal consultant for the Wisconsin Focus on Energy Program. The owner of a renewable energy company, he has over 30 years experience with solar energy systems and is a founder and director of the Midwest Renewable Energy Association (MREA). Benjamin Nusz currently works as a solar water heating consultant and site assessor in Wisconsin.

The Legend of Colton H. Bryant

Alexandra Fuller

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Total reviews: 11 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

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From the bestselling author of Don’t Let’s Go to the Dogs Tonight and Scribbling the Cat, the unforgettable true story of a boy who comes of age in the oil-fields and open plains of Wyoming; a heartrending story of the human spirit that lays bare where it is that wisdom truly resides

Colton H. Bryant was one of Wyoming’s native sons and grown by that high, dry place, he never once wanted to leave it. “Wyoming loves me,” he said, and it was true. Wyoming—roughneck, wild, open, and searingly beautiful— loved him, and Colton loved it back. As a child in school, Colton never could force himself to focus on his lessons. Instead, he’d plan where he’d go fishing later, or he’d wonder how many jackrabbits he might find on his favorite hunting patch, or he’d dream about the rides he would take on the wild mare he was breaking. “At my funeral, you’ll all feel sorry for making me waste so much time in school,” he said to his best friend Jake—and it was true.

Two things got Colton through the boredom of school and the neighborhood “K-mart cowboys” who bullied him: His best friend Jake and his favorite mantra, a snatch of a saying he heard on TV: Mind over matter—which meant to him: If you don’t mind, it don’t matter. Colton and Jake grew up wanting nothing more than the freedom to sleep out under the great Wyoming night sky, to hunt and fish and chase the horizon and to be just like Colton’s dad, a strong and gentle man of few words. When it was time for Colton to marry and make money on his own, he took up as a hand on an oil rig. It was dangerous work, but Colton was the third generation in his family to work on the oil patch and he claimed it was in his blood. And anyway, he joked, he always knew he’d die young.

Colton did die young, and he died on the rig—falling to his death because the drilling company had neglected to spend two thousand dollars on the mandated safety rails that would have saved his life. His family received no compensation. But they didn’t expect to—they knew the company’s ways, and after all as Colton would have said: Mind over matter.

In Scribbling the Cat, Alexandra Fuller brought us the examined life of a Rhodesian soldier; now—in her inimitable poetic voice and with her pitch-perfect ear for dialogue— she brings before us the life of someone much closer to home, as unexpected as he is iconic. The moving, tough, and in many ways quintessentially American story of Colton H. Bryant’s life could not be told without also telling the story of the land that grew him—the beautiful and somehow tragic Wyoming; the land where there are still such things as cowboys roaming the plains, where it’s relationships that get you through, and where a just, soulful, passionate man named Colton H. Bryant lived and died.

Making Things Talk: Practical Methods for Connecting Physical Objects

Tom Igoe

Amazon Price: $19.79 List Price: $29.99 By: Make Books Amazon Marketplace: 37 new & used starting at $17.29

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Total reviews: 14 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

Building electronic projects that interact with the physical world is good fun. But when devices that you've built start to talk to each other, things really start to get interesting. Through a series of simple projects, you'll learn how to get your creations to communicate with one another by forming networks of smart devices that carry on conversations with you and your environment. Whether you need to plug some sensors in your home to the Internet or create a device that can interact wirelessly with other creations, Making Things Talk explains exactly what you need.

This book is perfect for people with little technical training but a lot of interest. Maybe you're a science teacher who wants to show students how to monitor weather conditions at several locations at once, or a sculptor who wants to stage a room of choreographed mechanical sculptures. Making Things Talk demonstrates that once you figure out how objects communicate -- whether they're microcontroller-powered devices, email programs, or networked databases -- you can get them to interact.

Each chapter in contains instructions on how to build working projects that help you do just that. You will:

• Make your pet's bed send you email
• Make your own seesaw game controller that communicates over the Internet
• Learn how to use ZigBee and Bluetooth radios to transmit sensor data wirelessly
• Set up communication between microcontrollers, personal computers, and web servers using three easy-to-program, open source environments: Arduino/Wiring, Processing, and PHP.
• Write programs to send data across the Internet based on physical activity in your home, office, or backyard
• And much more

With a little electronics know-how, basic (not necessarily in BASIC) programming skills, a couple of inexpensive microcontroller kits and some network modules to make them communicate using Ethernet, ZigBee, and Bluetooth, you can get started on these projects right away. With Making Things Talk, the possibilities are practically endless.

Biodiesel Basics and Beyond: A Comprehensive Guide to Production and Use for the Home and Farm

William H. Kemp

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Total reviews: 12 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Excellent book - an ABSOLUTE MUST for your bookshelf 5 out of 5 stars.
5 of 5 people found this review helpful.

After researching most of the books available on the market on the subject of BIO-DIESEL I eventually settled for this book.
It is well-written and covers every aspect of the manufacture of bio-diesel that the smaller-scale individual would look for in a book. The author is well-versed in his subject and is a definate must-have book if you are looking to get into this field.
Definately worth 5/5 stars from me.

Editorial Review:

Biodiesel Basics and Beyond aims to separate fact from fiction and to educate potential home, farm, and cooperative manufacturers on the economic production of quality biodiesel from both waste and virgin oil feedstock. The book includes:

• detailed processes and equipment required to produce biodiesel fuel that meets North American standards
• how farmers can use excess oilseed as a feedstock for biodiesel production
• the use of the co-byproduct glycerin in the making of soap
• a guide to numerous reference materials and a list of supplier data

This is North America’s definitive guide to responsibly producing biodiesel from waste vegetable oil while minimizing your environmental footprint in the process.

Gusher of Lies: The Dangerous Delusions of Energy Independence

Robert Bryce

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Total reviews: 35 Average rating: 3.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

Everybody is talking about "energy independence." But is it really achievable? Is it actually even desirable? In this controversial, meticulously researched book, Robert Bryce exposes the false promises behind the rhetoric while blasting nearly everybody— Republicans, Democrats, environmentalists, and war-mongering neoconservatives—for misleading voters about our energy needs.

Gusher of Lies explains why the idea of energy independence appeals to voters while also showing that renewable sources like wind and solar cannot meet America's growing energy demand. Along the way, Bryce eviscerates the ethanol scam. Whether the issue is cost, water consumption, or food prices, corn ethanol is one of the longest-running robberies ever perpetrated on American taxpayers.

Consumers concerned about peak oil and the future of global energy supplies need to understand that energy security depends on embracing free markets and the realities of interdependence. Gusher of Lies is illuminating, vital reading.

Wind Power, Revised Edition: Renewable Energy for Home, Farm, and Business

Paul Gipe

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Total reviews: 10 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Make This Your 1st Book on Wind Power 5 out of 5 stars.
7 of 9 people found this review helpful.

Paul Gipe truly knows his industry. Whether you're thinking about installing a small wind turbine or want to invest in a megawatt model, you should make this your first purchase. You'll feel like you've completed a college course on wind power after reading this book.

Editorial Review:

Wind energy today is a booming worldwide industry. The technology has truly come of age, with better, more reliable machinery and a greater understanding of how and where wind power makes sense--from the independent homestead to a grid-connected utility-wide perspective. Heightened concerns about our environment mean that this resurgence of interest in wind--a natural and widespread power source--is here to stay. Wind Power is the completely revised and expanded edition of Paul Gipe’s definitive 1993 book, Wind Power for Home and Business. In addition to expanded sections on gauging wind resources and siting wind turbines, this edition includes new examples and case studies of successful wind systems, international sources for new and used equipment, and hundreds of color photographs and illustrations.