[PDF] Solar Power Your Home for Dummies

Author of Solar Power Your Home for Dummies

Rik DeGunther attended the College of Illinois as an undergraduate and Stanford College as a graduate pupil, finding out each utilized physics and engineering economics (a few of this schooling truly caught!).

Over the course of an engineering profession, he labored as a challenge engineer, challenge supervisor, and product designer.

He holds a number of United States patents and has designed a variety of technical gear, together with solar energy techniques, navy radar jammers, climate measurement gear.

Excessive Powered vacuum tubes, computerized manufacturing {hardware}, golf observe units, digital and analog digital circuits, unmanned aerial autos, guitars and amplifiers, microwave techniques, explosive units (strictly by chance), cloud peak sensors, fog sensors, furnishings, homes, barns, rocket ships, dart throwers, flamethrowers, eavesdropping units, escape routes, nefarious capers, and also you identify it.

He’s a kind of nerdy guys who wish to take issues aside to see how they work after which put them again collectively and check out to determine what the leftover components are for.

Rik is CEO of Environment friendly Properties, an vitality effectivity auditing agency in Northern California. He’s actively engaged in designing and creating new photo voltaic gear, together with off-grid lighting techniques and off-grid swimming pool heaters.

He writes weekly op-ed columns for the Mountain Democrat, California’s oldest and most venerable newspaper. He has additionally written a golf guide (on placing) and spends most of his free time trying to enhance his comparatively spectacular however objectively droll golf handicap, normally to no avail.

Typically the urge strikes him to play a really loud guitar, of which he owns a group with much more intrinsic high quality than the taking part in they obtain. His listening to has been faltering the previous few years, so he rebuilt his amplifier to go as much as 11.

Solar Power Contents

Half I: Enjoying the Vitality Sport 

• Chapter 1: Serving to the World by way of Solar Power 
• Chapter 2: Surveying Your Family Vitality Effectivity and Use 
• Chapter 3: Making Your Home Vitality Environment friendly

Half II: Understanding Solar Simply the Information, Ma’am 

• Chapter 4: Working with Solar Fundamentals 
• Chapter 5: Evaluating Your Solar Potential 
• Chapter 6: Calculating Payback on Your Solar Funding 
• Chapter 7: Putting in Your Solar System

Half III: Functions Aplenty: Tasks from Small to Giant

• Chapter 8: Digging Into Panorama Tasks
• Chapter 9: Leaping Into Small Tasks with Huge Outcomes
• Chapter 10: Heating and Purifying Water 
• Chapter 11: Diving Into Swimming Pool Tasks 
• Chapter 12: Supplementing Your Home Water Heater
• Chapter 13: Breezeway: Directing Wind inside Your Home 
• Chapter 14: Solar Pumps, Wind Power, Hydro Power, and Batteries in Functions 
• Chapter 15: Glass Homes (and Plastic, Too): Greenhouses and Sunrooms

Half IV: Exploring Full-Scale Photovoltaic Techniques

• Chapter 16: Taking a Shut Take a look at Photovoltaic Techniques 
• Chapter 17: Is a Full-Scale PV System Well worth the Funding? 
• Chapter 18: Divorcing the Grid: Going Solo with Solar Power Techniques
• Chapter 19: Do It Your self or Contract Out?
• Chapter 20: Discovering the Money to Get the Job Accomplished

Half V: Shopping for, Promoting, and Constructing a Solar Home

• Chapter 21: Constructing a Solar Home from the Floor Up
• Chapter 22: Shopping for and Promoting a Solar Home 
• Half VI: The A part of Tens
• Chapter 23: Ten Finest Solar Investments 
• Chapter 24: Ten or So Finest Do-It-Your self Tasks 
• Chapter 25: Ten Low cost Solar Tasks and Gadgets 
• Chapter 26: Ten or So Worst Solar Errors

Introduction to Solar Power Your Home for Dummies

Solar Power Your Home For Dummies, 2nd Version, can assist you flip your photo voltaic inspirations into actuality with out dropping your shirt or your sanity. With this guide — and with some good, arduous work and perseverance in your half — you’ll be able to obtain the laudable objective of putting in solar energy gear at your property.

About Solar Power Your Home for Dummies 2nd Version

This guide offers you with an ample photo voltaic information base and allows you to apply that data by way of do-it-yourself initiatives or by way of hiring others to do the work for you.

I take advantage of plain English to the extent attainable, breaking down complicated technical ideas into bite-sized items. However my objective is at all times that can assist you navigate the maze of photo voltaic know-how as effectively and sensibly as attainable. Each home is completely different.

Climates are completely different, even in areas separated by a few miles. Markets are evolving, suppliers are altering, and know-how is continually evolving.

Typically you’re going to should make your individual choices, and I can provide you solely the pertinent info it’s essential make one of the best one.

Or in some instances, all I can do is level you towards the knowledge sources it’s essential seek the advice of. However you will discover the necessities right here, tailor them to your individual state of affairs, and get a photo voltaic system that actually works for you.