Solar living sourcebook: your complete guide to living beyond the grid with renewable energy technologies and sustainable living

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS  A MESSAGE FROM THE RGS ENERGY CEO  FOREWORD: by Bill McKibben  INTRODUCTION: by John Schaeffer, Real Goods Founder  Chapter 1: RELOCALIZATION: A Strategic Response to Peak Oil and Climate Change  Ecological Economics  Overshoot  Peak Oil and Implications for a Transportation-Dependent Economy  Climate Change and the Need to Eliminate Fossil Fuels  Relocalization: A Strategic Response to Overshoot  Approaching Social Change  Pioneering Solar Down on the Farm  Chapter 2: LAND AND SHELTER: Designing and Building Your Green Dream Home  The Impacts of Modern Building  Passive Survivability  Strategies for a Responsive Home  Renovations and Development  Building a New Home  Passive Solar Design: A Primer  Building Technologies  The Healthy Home  Your Home, Your Choice  Words of Wisdom from Real Goods Staffers and Colleagues  Spirit of the Sun  Chapter 3: SUNSHINE TO ELECTRICITY: Creating Renewable Energy with Solar, Wind, and Hydroelectric Power  What Are Photovoltaic Cells?  Sixty Years of Photovoltaics  System Examples  PV Racking  Wind and Hydro Power Sources  Hydroelectricity  Wind Energy  Wind Energy and Wind Turbines - What You Need To Consider to Make a Decision  Hydrogen Fuel Cells  Chapter 4: FROM PANEL TO PLUG: How to Get Your Renewable Energy Source Powering Your Appliances  A Renewable Energy System Primer: Putting It All Together  Off-grid and Battery Backup  System Sizing Worksheets  Grid-tied Systems  Converting Sunshine into Electricity  What's the Payback?  Safety and Fusing  Charge Controllers  Monitors  Large Storage Batteries  Real Goods' Battery Troubleshooting Guide  Common Battery Questions and Answers  Real Goods' Battery Care Class  Rechargeable Batteries and Chargers  Frequently Asked Questions About Rechargeable Batteries  Inverters  Potential Problems with Modified Sine Wave Inverter Use - and How to Correct Them  Potential Problems with ALL Inverters - and How to Correct Them  Inverter Conclusions  Wire, Adapters, and Outlets  Wire Sizing Chart/Formula  RGS Energy Solar Project Case Study: Ironhouse Sanitary District  RGS Energy Solar Project Case Study: Little Quittacas Solar Farm  Chapter 5: EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS AND SOLAR MOBILITY: Be Empowered When the Grid Goes Down  Want Some Protection, or at Least a Little Backup? How About Total Freedom?  Steps to a Practical Emergency Power System  What Do You Really Need in an Emergency?  Conclusion  Chapter 6: ENERGY CONSERVATION: Superefficient Lighting, Heating,and Cooling Are the First Steps  Living Well but Inexpensively  It All Starts with Good Design  Retrofitting: Making the Best of What You've Got  Conserving Electricity  House Heating and Cooling  Home Cooling Systems  Energy-efficient Appliances  Superefficient Lighting  Lighting Characteristics  Light Technology  Chapter 7: WATER DEVELOPMENT: Reckoning with Our Most Precious and Endangered Resource  The Three Components of Every Water System  Solar-Powered Pumping  Real Goods' Homestead Plumbing Recommendations  Friction Loss Charts for Water Pumping  Chapter 8: WATER HEATING: The Most Cost-effective Solar Alternative  Common Water Heater Types  Solar Water Heaters  Types of Solar Water Heating Systems: Operation and Installation  Chapter 9: WATER AND AIR PURIFICATION: Clean Water and Air Are Human Rights!  The Need for Water Purification  Methods of Water Filtration and Purification  Air Purification  Resources  Chapter 10: COMPOSTING TOILETS AND GREYWATER SYSTEMS: Novel, Safe, and Clean Solutions to an Age-old Human Issue  Reclaiming Valuable Resources  What Is a Composting Toilet?  Greywater Systems  Chapter 11: REGENERATIVE HOMESTEADING AND FARMING: Growing Your Own Organically Using the Permaculture Principles While Living the Good Life  Permaculture: A Holistic Design System for Your Site  Biodynamic (R) Agriculture: Food and the Cosmos  Biodynamic Preparations  Resources  Chapter 12: URBAN HOMESTEADING: Heirloom Skills for Sustainable Living  Urban Permaculture Practice  Gardening in the Urban Habitat  Animals on the Urban Homestead  Remaking Our Relationship to Food  The Heirloom Kitchen Skills  Natural Building  Powering Down  Greywater and Rainwater Use  Waste  Personal Ecology  Resources  Chapter 13: SUSTAINABLE TRANSPORTATION: Toward a Future of Carbon-free Mobility  The Problem with Fossil Fuels  The Problem with Today's Motor Vehicles  Hybrids and Other Low-emission Vehicles  Biodiesel, Ethanol, and Other Biofuels  Electric Vehicles  Futuristic Vehicles?  Chapter 14: NATURAL BURIAL: The Ultimate Back-to-the-land Movement  Dying to Do the Right Thing  When It's Time, Will You "Leave No Trace"?  Cemetery Stewardship's Triple Bottom Line  Crafting the Fond Farewell: It Takes a Plan  What You Need for a Natural Burial  A Place to Go  Last Acts That Make a Difference: How Your Support of Environmentally Friendly Products Can Turn an Industry Around  Chapter 15: THE REAL GOODS' SUSTAINABLE LIVING LIBRARY: Reading for a Renewable Future  Garden, Farm, Food, and Community  Land and Shelter  Renewable Energy in Theory and Practice  Building Types and Materials  Peak Oil, Relocalization, and Politics  Water Development  References and Resources  APPENDIX  Part I: Who We Are and How We Got Here  Part II: Living the Dream: The Real Goods Solar Living Center  Part III: Spreading the Word: The Solar Living Institute  Part IV: Getting Down to Business  System Sizing Worksheets  Power Consumption Table  Solar Insolation Maps  Solar Insolation by US City  Magnetic Declination Charts in the United States  Battery Wiring Diagrams  Wire Sizing Chart/Formula  Friction Loss Charts for Water Pumping  Temperature Conversions  Nominal Pipe Size Versus Actual Outside Diameter for Steel and Plastic Pipe  The Real Goods' Resource List  State Energy Offices Access Information  Glossary  ENDNOTES  INDEX