GOOD BASIC BOOKS AND MAGAZINES
MAGAZINES:Home Power Magazine: The Hands-on Journal of Home Made Power - six big, fat detailed issues per year, this is THE magazine for information on solar, wind, and micro-hydro power (natural building and electric vehicle conversion, too), the ads and product reviews are the best source for the very latest technology and companies to help you install alternative power systems, back issues become a valuable reference library and are in fact now available on eight CD-ROM's, a must have magazine
Countryside and Small Stock Journal - "get back to the basics with the grandfather of simple living magazines", funky articles written by those out there adoin' it
The Last Straw Journal - the most authoritative articles written on straw bale construction, published quarterly, a gold mine of technical information for the serious straw bale builder, back issues are a valuable reference library and are still available for purchase by the indivdual issue
Mother Earth News: The Original Guide to Living Wisely
Sierra - join the Sierra Club (700,000 members now) and recieve "Sierra" each month, a substantial and superbly written magazine and one of the best ways to keep up on information on the environment and current issues
Whole Earth Magazine: Access to Tools, Ideas, and Practices
Grist Magazine - highly recommended on-line environmental news magazine. Their Credo: "Pull no punches, take no prisoners, accept no advertising. Eschew the wealth and fame that so often seduce online environmental journalists. And try to have a better sense of humor than a pack of fur protesters."
SOLAR ELECTRIC (PV) SYSTEMS:(Note: The books listed below are highly useful resource materials for setting up your own solar electric system. They are all available FREE from Sandia National Laboratories. Log on to their web site, click on the "Publications" tab, and download their publications list. Print out the list, check the books you want and send it back to them in the mail. Wait a few weeks and a small and highly valuable reference library will arrive on your door step. There are lots of great (expensive) PV books you can buy, but...)
"Power Where You Need It: The Promise of Photovoltaics" by Connie Brooks - 50 pages, mostly photographs, of a large number of different applications of solar electric power, quite fascinating and informative
"Stand-Alone Photovoltaic Systems: A Handbook of Recommended Design Practices" - Soft cover, spiral-bound, 436 pages. Presents recommended design practices for stand-alone photovoltaic (PV) systems. System-level tradeoffs necessary for any PV application are discussed. Presented are: a system sizing method that can be completed without access to a computer, instructions and blank worksheets, and 15 specific examples of PV systems designed to meet a wide range of applications. Each example includes sizing, design, hardware specifications, installation description, and cost information.
"Maintenance and Operation of Stand-Alone Photovoltaic Systems" - Soft cover, spiral-bound, 247 pages. A guide for engineers, planners, maintenance supervisors, and all maintenance personnel involved in the operation, inspection, troubleshooting, repair, and maintenance of PV systems. It is designed to be used in the field by the personnel performing the actual inspection, maintenance, or repair of solar power systems.
"Photovoltaic Power Systems and The National Electrical Code: Suggested Practices" - Soft cover, spiral bound, 140 pages. This guide provides information on the NEC and how it relates to PV systems. It is not intended to interpret or replace the NEC; it merely paraphrases the NEC and aligns information contained in the NEC with PV subsystems. This material is not intended to be a design guide nor an instruction manual for an untrained person. Furthermore, it is not intended to cover all aspects of the NEC or PV systems--it must be used in conjunction with the full text of the NEC.
STRAW BALE HOUSES:(Note: All seven of the books listed below cover slighty different aspects of straw bale construction. If you are going to build a straw bale house, most are really necessary as they compliment each other in important ways. If I HAD to choose only two, it would be "Build it With Bales" and "Serious Straw Bale". )
"The Beauty of Straw Bale Homes" by Athena and Bill Steen: Chelsea Green Publishing Company, 2001.
"Build It With Bales - Version Two" by Matts Myhrman and S. O. MacDonald: published by Out On Bale, 1998.
"The New Straw Bale Home" by Catherine Wanek: Black Range Natural Building Resources, 2003.
"Serious Straw Bale: A Home Construction Guide for All Climtes" by Paul Lacinski and Michel Bergeron: Chelsea Green Publishing Company, 2000.
"Straw Bale Building" by Chris Magwood and Peter Mack: New Society Publishers, 2000.
"The Straw Bale House" by Athena and Bill Steen: Chelsea Green Publishing Company, 1994.
"A House of Straw" by Carolyn Roberts, Chelsea Green Publishing Company, 2002 - an inspiring journal of how a single mom with two teen-age boys built their own straw bale house.
ALL KINDS OF GOOD STUFF:
"The Encyclopedia of Country Living" by Carla Emery: Sasquatch Books (9th edition) 2003 - this classic and long revered book on food, gardening, and self-sufficient living is a complete resource for living off the land with over 800 pages of collected wisdom from country maven, Carla Emery--how to cultivate a garden, buy land, bake bread, raise farm animals, make sausage, milk a goat, grow herbs, churn butter, catch a pig, make soap, work with bees and much, much more
"The Dirt Cheap Builder" - A most remarkable catalogue of books and videos for building low cost, natural homes: Taylor Publishing Company, P.O. Box 375, Cutten, CA 95534 (if you can't find it here, it probably doesn't exist, but they'll keep trying)
"Earthen Floors" by Athena and Bill Steen: a Canelo Project Booklet, HC1 Box 324, Elgin, AZ 85611 - order from The Canelo Project
"Earth Plasters for Straw Bale Homes" by Keely Meagan: published by Keely Meagan, P.O. Box 5888, Santa Fe, NM 87502 - order from Keely Meagan or Taylor Publishing (see "The Dirt Cheap Builder")
"A Golden Thread: 2500 Years of Solar Architecture and Technology" by Ken Butti and John Perlin: Cheshire Books, 1980 - a fascinating, eye-opening narrative, highly recommended
THE INTERNET! - it is astonishing how much information there is on the Internet, a few quick searches and you have books worth of info to digest, much of Solar Haven was designed in front of this computer and a great deal of it's equipment purchased on-line - and don't forget discussion groups, in particular the Straw Bale Construction group on www.crest.org
"Mortgage Free! Radical Stratagies for Home Ownership" by Rob Roy: A Real Goods Solar Living Book, 1998.
"The Natural House: A Complete Guide to Healthy, Energy-Efficient, Environmental Homes" by Daniel D. Chiras: A Real Goods Solar Living Book, 2000
"The Natural Plaster Book: Earth, Lime, and Gypsum Plasters for Natural Homes" by Cedar Rose Guelberth and Dan Chiras: New Society Publishers, 2003.
"The Passive Solar House - Using Solar Design to Heat and Cool Your House" by James Kachadorian: A Real Goods Independent Living Book, 1997
"Planet Earth Home: The ultimate self-sufficient home for any location in the world" by Mel Moench: Osprey Press, 2004 - a massive reference work covering virtually all categories relating to self-sufficiency such as passive/active solar, photovoltaic, wind power, greenhouse vegetable production, recycling, water conservation, greywater, wood heating, thermal mass, food preservation, energy-efficient HVAC systems, healthy diets, fish/animal production, natural lighting, and much more - an entire web site is devoted to this remarable book, go to: http://www.planetearthhome.com/index.html
"Straw-Bale Home Plans" by Stephen Kemble - A Descriptive Brochure of Nine Different Straw-Bale Home Design Plans: Sustainable System Support, P.O. Box 318, Bisbee, AZ 85603 - available from Steve Kemble, The Last Straw, or The Canelo Project
"Texas Guide to Rainwater Harvesting - Second Edition": published by the Texas Water Development Board in Austin, Texas, 1997 - this is now available on-line in PDF format, go to http://www.twdb.state.tx.us/publications/reports/RainHarv.pdf
A LIST OF EXCELLENT PLACES TO BUY RENEWABLE ENERGY PRODUCTS
FOUR WEB SITES YOU CAN'T AFFORD TO MISS:
THESE GROUPS ARE TRYING VALIANTLY TO PROTECT LIFE ON EARTH - GIVE A FEW OF THEM A HAND IF YOU POSSIBLY CAN:
Amnesty International
www.amnesty.org/Audubon Society
http://www.audubon.org/Center for Biological Diversity
http://biologicaldiversity.org/swcbd/Committee of Concerned Scientists
http://www.libertynet.org/ccs/Defenders of Wildlife
www.defenders.org/Jane Goodall Institute
www.janegoodall.org/Greenpeace
www.greenpeace.org/
National Wildlife Fund
www.nwf.org/National Resources Defense Counsel
http://www.nrdc.org/Nature Conservancy
http://nature.org/Sierra Club
www.sierraclub.org/Union of Concerned Scientists
http://www.ucsusa.orgWorld Wildlife Federation
http://www.wwf.org/
