Order of this list:
Videos
Books
General/Multiple Systems
Solar
Wind
Hydro
Ethanol/Biodiesel
Geothermal
Videos
In the young 21st Century, two realizations are dawning on the world's population: we are hopelessly dependent on petroleum, which is only going to get more expensive; and global warming, caused mainly by our burning of fossil fuels, will impact civilization in ways that we're only beginning to grasp. Stepping in to fight both of these massive problems are the rapidly evolving technologies that harness renewable energy. We will see how air, water, earth, and fire are transformed into clean, reliable sources of heat, electricity, and even automobile fuel. We'll take an in-depth look at the most proven and reliable sources: solar, wind, geothermal, biofuels, and tidal power. From the experimental to the tried-and-true, renewable energy sources are overflowing with potential... just waiting to be exploited on a massive scale. And unlike fossil fuels, they'll always be there.
Eleven years in the making, FUEL is the in-depth personal journey of filmmaker and eco-evangelist Josh Tickell, who takes us on a hip, fast-paced road trip into America s dependence on foreign oil. Combining a history lesson of the US auto and petroleum industries and interviews with a wide range of policy makers, educators, and activists such as Woody Harrelson, Sheryl Crow, Neil Young and Willie Nelson. Animated by powerful graphics, FUEL looks into our future offering hope via a wide-range of renewable energy and bio-fuels. Winner of the Sundance Audience Award.
Would you be surprised to know:
-- Your gasoline vehicle can already use at least 50% ethanol without modification.
-- Brazil runs 50% of its cars on straight alcohol.
-- Gasoline is toxic waste; ethanol is liquid solar energy.
-- We can reverse global warming by switching to alcohol fuel.
-- Alcohol is 105 octane, as good as the best racing or aviation fuels.
-- Anything you can make from oil, you can make from plants.
-- Alcohol production is a completely sustainable and ecological cycle.
Biodiesel Basics is a video introduction and companion guide to William Kemp’s book Biodiesel Basics and Beyond. It demonstrates the equipment and procedures required for the home or farm-scale production of high-quality fatty acid methyl esters, also known as biodiesel. The video shows how waste restaurant fryer oils or cold-pressed oilseed oils can be converted into a petroleum diesel compatible fuel for transportation, farm equipment, or home heating uses.
General/Multiple Systems
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.
Kennedy Green House documents the transformation of the home by a ''Green Dream Team,'' from the drawing of architectural plans to the selection of eco-friendly building materials and power sources to the retooling of the home with health-promoting, energy efficient appliances and furnishings. Along the way, author Robin Wilson provides information and tips on how these changes can be implemented by any homeowner, whether it's a broad renovation or simple, affordable replacements of common household items. The book provides:
- A wide variety of color photographs documenting the entire process
- Side bar advice that shows you the ultimate, mid-range, and low-cost/easy solution to every upgrade
- A focus on maximizing energy, water efficiency, and indoor air quality
Open the book and find:
- The pros and cons of alternative energy
- A review of the current world energy economy
- The problems with fossil fuels, from smog to global warming
- Advantages of alternative energy
- Practical results of alternatives you can use in daily life
- Guidelines for investing in alternative energy vehicles
- Ten ways you can bring about change right now
- Insight into the future of energy production — and how you can invest in it
The book begins by covering a wide range of heat sources, including wood, corn, coal, oil, gas, electricity, and solar heat. Propulsion methods are discussed next, including gasoline, methane, ethanol, biodiesel, hydrogen, fuel cells, and more. Electricity from fossil fuels, water, wind, atoms, and other sources is also covered. Featuring end-of-chapter quizzes and a final exam, this illuminating guide explains the technical basics of many different forms of energy -- some that may surprise you!
This self-paced guide gives you:
- A thorough overview of the various sources of energy
- To-the-point explanations and detailed illustrations
- A quiz at the end of each chapter to reinforce learning and pinpoint weaknesses
- A final exam at the end of the book
- A time-saving approach to performing better on an exam or at work!
Focusing on the latest technological advances in residential renewable energy, this guide examines each alternative energy option available including:
- Solar hot water and solar hot air systems
- Passive and active solar retrofits for heating and cooling
- Electricity from solar, wind, and microhydro
- Hydrogen, fuel cells, methane digesters, and biodiesel
In daily life, we can take control of the resources and services we depend on. Electricity and energy don’t have to come off the public utility grid—alternatives abound in solar, wind, and water generated power. Design decisions can drastically affect power consumption, and bio-diesel and alternative fuels can help break the oil habit. Dave Black describes alternatives for eco-pimping your home and lifestyle for independence, economy, and a more integrated way of life. Equally valuable for the urban dweller vaguely concerned about the size of his or her carbon footprint and the rural self-sufficiency enthusiast, Living Off the Grid can help anyone take control of his or her life and way of living.
Renewable Energy Made Easy will provide you with everything you need to know about these alternative energy sources. You will learn about solar power, wind power, water power, biofuels, geothermal energy, ethanol, wave farms, photovoltaic power plants, and hydrogen fuels. You will also become well-versed on the availability, aesthetics, environmental and social considerations, and longevity issues of these so-called soft energy technologies. In addition, you will learn about the current costs and the projected costs in the future, Energy StarTM regulations, the newest research and innovations, and the high development potential of renewable energy. This book will serve as a guide to creating more efficient buildings and an invaluable resource for how to change our preconceived notions about power.
A Zero Energy Home (ZEH) – a home that produces as much energy as it consumes – is an idea whose time has come! Authors David Johnston and Scott Gibson (Green from the Ground Up) explore the design and construction of self-sufficient houses from start to finish. They make the case for a ZEH; cite climate and geographic challenges; describe exactly how to go about building an energy-efficient home; and feature ten houses that were built for zero energy living. With unequaled knowledge and a passion for the subject, the authors walk readers through the process of building and living in a truly green home.
In this guide to prefab home-building author Sheri Koones, demystifies the prefabricated house by using 25 unique homes to showcase how factory-built homes are greener, more efficient, sturdier, and more cost-effective than site-built homes. The book is divided into 3 categories—green, greener, greenest—and the homes featured vary in style, design, type of construction, and size. All of the homes included in Prefabulous and Sustainable have been customized to create a level of sustainability beyond the inherent qualities of prefab.
The principal topics include:
- Project boundaries (why you have to consider not only your home's behavior, but also your own)
- Prioritizing strategies (e.g., insulation vs. photovoltaics)
- Economics (including payback periods and incentives)
- How to minimize a building's energy needs
- How to minimize your energy needs
- How to power the energy needs that remain
- The critical role of integrated project planning
Now available in paperback, The Green House vividly illustrates the emerging collaboration between stylish architecture, interior design, and environmental responsibility. This groundbreaking book features more than thirty-five residences in fifteen countries—and nearly every conceivable natural environment—designed by a combination of star architects and lesser-known practitioners, all of whom put "greenness" in the service of quality design, and not the other way around.
Eco-friendly housing used to be thought of as expensive, ugly or just plain weird. Now it's becoming common. David Johnston and Scott Gibson offer guidance on environmentally sensitive home building in Green from the Ground Up: Sustainable, Healthy, and Energy-Efficient Home Construction. The book helps builders and homeowners create houses that conserve natural resources and are energy-efficient and healthful. It's packed with information, tips, illustrations and case studies that offer wisdom earned from experience.
Solar
Significantly updated for 2011, the latest edition assumes no previous knowledge of solar electric systems. The book explains how solar panels work and how they can be used. It explains the advantages of solar energy and the drawbacks that you need to take into account when designing a solar power system. As well as explaining the underlying principles, it provides a step-by-step guide so that you can successfully design and install a photovoltaic solar system from scratch.
This third edition helps readers understand the basics of solar (photovoltaic) power and explore whether it makes sense for them, what their options are, and what's involved with installing various on- and off-grid systems.
•Solar power is a $3 billion industry, and it's poised to grow to $39 billion by 2014
•By 2011, the United States will surpass Germany as the largest market for solar power products
The future will be powered by renewables. As we transition away from finite and polluting fossil fuels, clean, reliable, and affordable renewable technologies such as solar electricity will become the mainstay of our energy supply.
Solar Electricity Basics provides a clear understanding of electricity and energy. It discusses the types of solar electric system you can choose from, their components, solar site assessment, the installation of photovoltaic systems, and much more.
Filled with colorful characters, the book also features the enthusiasm of maverick devotees to the renewable energy boom of the 1980s and 1990s and their interplay with staid DC-based development institutions, as well as their unique perspective on global solutions to “energy poverty.” It will be illuminating to all interested in the environment, development, renewable energy, socially responsible business, and our future at the end of the age of oil.
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
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
The global economy and our way of life are based on the exploitation of fossil fuels, which not only threaten massive environmental and social disruption through global warming but, at present rates of consumption, will run out within decades, causing huge industrial dislocation and economic collapse. Even before then, the conflicts it causes in the Middle East and elsewhere will be frighteningly exacerbated. The alternative exists: renewable energy from renewable sources - above all, solar. Substituting renewable for fossil resources will take a new industrial revolution to avert the worst of the damage and establish a new international order. It can be done, and it can be done in time. The Solar Economy, by one of the world's most effective analysts and advocates, lays out the blueprints, showing how the political, economic and technological challenges can be met using indigenous, renewable and universally available resources, and the enormous opportunities and benefits that will flow from doing so.
Table of Contents
- Why Invest in Renewable Energy
- Is It Legal and Safe
- How Solar Electricity Works
- Grid-tied Solar and Wind System Options, with and without batteries
- Sizing Your Solar / Wind System
- What Does It Cost
- Any Financial Help Out There
- Permits & Paperwork
- Nuts & Bolts: What to Look For, What to Avoid
- Who Does the Solar/Wind Installation
- Using the Sun's Warmth to Heat Your Home (NEW)
- Solar Water Heating Systems (NEW)
- Geothermal Heating & Cooling (NEW)
- Extensive Appendix includes manufacturers, associations, reference web sites, state energy offices, worksheets, glossary and more
- Why Invest in Renewable Energy
- Is It Legal and Safe
- How Solar Electricity Works
- Grid-tied Solar and Wind System Options, with and without batteries
- Sizing Your Solar / Wind System
- What Does It Cost
- Any Financial Help Out There
- Permits & Paperwork
- Nuts & Bolts: What to Look For, What to Avoid
- Who Does the Solar/Wind Installation
- Using the Sun's Warmth to Heat Your Home (NEW)
- Solar Water Heating Systems (NEW)
- Geothermal Heating & Cooling (NEW)
- Extensive Appendix includes manufacturers, associations, reference web sites, state energy offices, worksheets, glossary and more
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.
Wind
With chapters on output and economics, Wind Power discloses how much you can expect from each method of wind technology, both in terms of energy and financial savings. The book’s updated models, graphics, and weighty appendixes make it an invaluable reference for everyone interested in the emerging trend of wind power and renewable energy.
Harnessing the wind can be a tricky business, but in this groundbreaking book the authors provide step-by-step, illustrated instructions for building a wind generator in a home workshop. Even if you don't plan on building your own turbine, this book is packed with valuable information for anyone considering wind energy. It covers the basic physics of how the energy in moving air is turned into electricity, and most importantly, will give you a realistic idea of what wind energy can do for you--and what it can't.
Hydro
Highly illustrated and practical, Microhydro is the first complete book on the topic in a decade. Covering both AC and DC systems, it covers principles, design and site considerations, equipment options, and legal, environmental, and economic factors.
Serious Microhydro brings you dozens of firsthand stories of energy independence covering a complete range of systems, from household pressure sites to higher pressure installations capable of powering a farm, business, or small neighborhood. Topics include:
- Low head and medium head sites
- AC-only systems as well as ones using a battery/inverter subsystem
- Stand alone power supply or grid intertie setups
- Hybrid systems (combined with photovoltaics or wind)
The new edition of this useful and practical handbook is a guide to the use of induction motors for electricity generation in remote locations and arises out of the practical experience of manufacturers and installers of induction generators working in village locations in a number of countries. The use of motors as generators is now well proven and promises to be an important element in establishing self-sustaining local capacity for village-scale hydro in developing countries. Micro-hydro is a valuable source of energy for rural industries and village electrification schemes. It offers potential to remote communities with applications in village lighting, mechanized food processing, and the supply of power to small-scale industrial activities.
Ethanol/Biodiesel
Blume's step-by-step instructions can help anyone build an ethanol plant (from a few hundred gallons to a hundred million gallons per year) or convert your car into an alternative fuel vehicle. Blume explains that ethanol does not need to be a corn-only, Midwestern industry and that there are hundreds of crops in every state of the Union from which we can make renewable fuels.
The book has hundreds of illustrations, charts, and diagrams to make his points, including some of the most humorous, entertaining and provocative cartoons likely to be found anywhere. The extensive two-dozen page glossary provides an excellent reference on all energy-related subjects.
Alcohol Fuel is a practical, grassroots book that will give readers all the information they need, covering every aspect of making and using ethanol for fuel, including:
- Permitting and planning
- Budgeting and setup
- Sourcing feedstocks
- Finding and building distillation equipment
- Storage and safety
- Practical applications for converting motor vehicles, farm equipment, and space-heating systems
This book gives a simple outline to the process of producing alcohol, along with plans to build one very specific setup. The section on grain preparation is very well described in this book, better than the other books that I have read. If somebody is looking to just make some ethanol without concern for the amount of energy required, this book will work OK for you.
Biodiesel Basics and Beyondaims 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
The international survey of the biodiesel industry has been expanded from 40 to more than 80 countries, reflecting the spectacular growth of the industry around the world. This section also tracks the dramatic shifts in the fortunes of the industry that have taken place in some of these nations. The detailed chapters that cover the industry in the United States have also been substantially rewritten to keep abreast of its many new developments and explosive domestic growth. An expanded section on small-scale, local biodiesel production has been added to better represent this small but growing part of the industry. Another new section has been added to more fully explore the increasingly controversial issues of deforestation and food versus fuel, as well as GMO crops. The second edition concludes with updated views on where the industry is headed in the years to come from some of its key players.
Sustainable Ethanol goes beyond the headlines, uncovering the benefits and limitations of North America's fuel ethanol industry. Ethanol production and use are becoming more efficient and less reliant on fossil fuel inputs. Learn about the technologies making ethanol make sense for our environment, economy, and security. Discover how the end of cheap oil is providing an opening for biofuels; how some cars get better fuel economy on 10% ethanol compared to ethanol-free gasoline; how the next generation of flex-fuel and hybrid electric vehicles could be optimized to get much better fuel economy on ethanol; how North America can produce significant quantities of biofuels without damaging our food production capacity; how sustainable farming methods are reducing ethanol's reliance on fossil fuels; and how cellulosic ethanol can be made from waste materials and soil-restoring perennial crops.
This book gives a broad overview of the key topics in this field of study, approaching them from a technical and economic angle giving the reader a comprehensive insight into biofuels as a whole. Dealing specifically with liquid and gaseous biofuels that can be produced from renewable resources this text also gives a summary of the past, present and future production technologies and applications of biofuels.
This book is particularly relevant as it highlights the extensive debate of the on-going global needs to find alternative fuels, making it not only a necessary text for working professionals and researchers in the field, but for anyone with an interest in sustaining the earth.
This book is particularly relevant as it highlights the extensive debate of the on-going global needs to find alternative fuels, making it not only a necessary text for working professionals and researchers in the field, but for anyone with an interest in sustaining the earth.
Inside, you'll find step-by-step instructions accompanied by helpful illustrations for such projects as building and properly using a homemade biodiesel reactor, which enables you to drive you car on vegetable oil purchased at a fraction of the price of gas or even on second-hand oil obtained from restaurants free of charge. Run Your Diesel Vehicle on Biofuels also includes a list of international parts suppliers and various manufacturers' warranty statuses regarding vehicles converted to biodiesel.
Projects include:
- Collecting waste oil
- Building a waste-oil processor
- Creating biodiesel fuel
- Converting your car to professional standards
- Constructing heat exchangers
THE TRUTH ABOUT BIODIESEL
•Easy to make at home
•Cheaper than buying diesel
•Works in unmodified diesel engines
•Reduces the need for imported oil
•Decreases greenhouse gas emissions
If you are ready to start making your own biodiesel, then this book is for you. Do It Yourself Biodiesel provides up-to-date information, step-by-step instructions, and tried-and-true methods as well as helpful tips and tricks. With detailed photos, illustrations, and charts, this book makes it easy to understand the procedures and equipment you will need to make biodiesel at home—in small or large batches.
•Easy to make at home
•Cheaper than buying diesel
•Works in unmodified diesel engines
•Reduces the need for imported oil
•Decreases greenhouse gas emissions
If you are ready to start making your own biodiesel, then this book is for you. Do It Yourself Biodiesel provides up-to-date information, step-by-step instructions, and tried-and-true methods as well as helpful tips and tricks. With detailed photos, illustrations, and charts, this book makes it easy to understand the procedures and equipment you will need to make biodiesel at home—in small or large batches.
SVO is the only book available that explains exactly what is necessary to convert a diesel vehicle and how to do it properly. It gives readers the tools to sort through the different companies and online plans to find something that works well. While technical in nature, this fully illustrated book is very accessible. Each concept is introduced and described in great detail.
Designed to educate new consumers, it is also a resource for current conversion owners.
ar from a third-party account, Biodiesel Power comes from one who has experienced it from the grease dumpster to the boardroom. Lyle Estill has made the journey from backyard brewing, to being part of a producer and distributor cooperative, to commercial production.
Compelling and timely, Biodiesel Power is the history of biodiesel in the making. It will appeal to a wide audience, including farmers, truckers, backyarders, and commercial producers, investors, politicians, and all those concerned about the end of oil.
Geothermal
Contents:
- Geothermal system options, including open-loop, closed-loop and DX configurations, using horizontal and vertical earth loops
- The importance of finding a qualified contractor
- Costs, tax credits and payback issues, plus calculating increased home values
- Who is using geothermal energy, including the author s firsthand experiences, home profiles from around the country as well as an overview of commercial/institutional projects
- How solar electricity can be used to power the system, plus other future trends
- Unraveling the science and technology of geothermal heat pumps (GHPs)
- Understanding GHP performance standards, ratings and warranties
- Geothermal system options, including open-loop, closed-loop and DX configurations, using horizontal and vertical earth loops
- The importance of finding a qualified contractor
- Costs, tax credits and payback issues, plus calculating increased home values
- Who is using geothermal energy, including the author s firsthand experiences, home profiles from around the country as well as an overview of commercial/institutional projects
- How solar electricity can be used to power the system, plus other future trends
- Unraveling the science and technology of geothermal heat pumps (GHPs)
- Understanding GHP performance standards, ratings and warranties
Interest in residential geothermal systems has grown as more people realize they can replace their fossil-fuel heating system with one that is three to five times more efficient and doesn't require a chimney to exhaust noxious fumes. Currently in the USA there is a federal 30% tax credit that applies to the total installation cost. These newer, safer systems provide heating as well as cooling simply by transferring heat between the home and the ground or a nearby body of water. Since this is a relatively new technology, the number of experienced installers is limited, but growing. Therefore, there is a burden on homeowners interested in installing one of these systems to absorb as much information about residential geothermal systems as possible. This book was written specifically to meet that need as well as to help HVAC professionals who are new to residential geothermal systems.
Find out how to:
- Learn the basic types of heat transfer--convection, conduction, and radiation
- Understand how geothermal earth-coupled heat pumps work
- Determine which ground loops to use for earth coupling to best meet the demands of the site
- Use load sharing to channel the heat differential of one device into useful energy for another
- Calculate system efficiencies and heat gain and loss
- Understand geothermal project proposals and system pricing
- Benefit from incentives, tax credits, and rebates for geothermal HVAC systems
- Calculate your long-term return on investment
- Verify that your installed system is working as intended
- Troubleshoot your system and avoid common problems
