The Complete Idiot's Guide to Solar Power for your Home, 2nd Edition (Complete Idiot's Guide to) | 
|  | | | Title: | The Complete Idiot's Guide to Solar Power for your Home, 2nd Edition (Complete Idiot's Guide to) | | Author: | Dan Ramsey
David Hughes | | Publisher: | Alpha | | Type: | Book / Paperback | | Publication Date: | 01 May, 2007 | | ISBN / ISBN-13: | 1592576435 / 9781592576432 | | List Price: | $19.95 | | You Save: | $6.38 | | Amazon Price: | $13.57 | |
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| Editorial Review / Publisher's Information:
Product Description
The perfect source for solar power—fully illustrated.
Solar Power (photovoltaics) is now a one-billion-dollar industry, and it’s poised to grow rapidly in the near future as more pressure is placed on limited fossil fuel resources and as advances in solar technology drive down the costs of residential solar systems. This book helps readers understand the basics of solar power and other renewable energy sources, explore whether solar power makes sense for them, what their options are, and what’s involved with installing various on and off-grid systems.
—Fully illustrated
—Covers every conceivable solar-power topic and concern, including updated information on the increasing number of state rebate and incentive programs
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Customer Reviews:
• Not Just For Idiots! 12 June, 2008
The title is disparaging but the contents are excellent! Anyone considering attempting to learn about Solar Power should read this book. It has an excellent chart for determining what you should consider before you start your project. It is written in easy to understand language that a lay person can easily understand. I highly recommend it.
- Reviewed by customer ID: A32RY7YKBIVCXO
• Solar Power For Dummies 04 June, 2008
The future is here. Solar Power is the answer. The book is plain and simple.
- Reviewed by customer ID: AHP4RKV05HGXB
• Ok...but Most Of The Information Can Be Found For Free.... 15 July, 2007
Very generic and almost all of the information is in this book can be found for free doing web searches. For example, the chapter on installations is nine pages long and has no specifics. It merely repeats to consult a qualified electrician and I already knew that!
The plus side is that it is well organized and concise.
- Reviewed by customer ID: A2USY5SXCPEAMY
• Read It 23 August, 2007
I did not get all the info that i wanted but it did teach me several things that i needed to know. Mostly an interesting read.
- Reviewed by customer ID: A3GM0YZHEZJQVH
• To Be Fair...(revised - I Have Read It...same...2 Stars) 01 May, 2008
Sept 08, 2008 Revision: After borrrowing this book from a friend to read it thoroughly, I still give it 2 stars BUT...
- the book is fairly thorough, concise, and comprehensive in its coverage of residential solar. It does cover nearly every introductory topic and question a home owner new to solar energy might ask.
- it goes into topics such as the history of solar, developments past present and future, batteries, Do-It-Yourself issues and concerns, inverter operation and general info, identifying and hiring a contractor, inspection issues, brief mention of the NEC (Natl Electric Code), federal and state solar incentives, and so much more.
And it does this in a very few short pages - don't let the 336 pages fool you. The meat of the book is actually in less than 200 pages of writing.
Given that it covers nearly ALL the topics in one book - in ONE PLACE - in a VERY QUICK read of 200+ pages - FOR LESS THAN $15.00, I actually give this 5 STARS for VALUE AND TIME well spent. (If you have ANY technical background, you'll cover the entire book in one night of reading.) But why 2 stars then? Well, if you are serious about installing solar, after reading this book you will come to realize that you still need to know so much more. Inevitably, you WILL have to talk to your municipal inspector, spend some time researching solar contractors, and quite a bit of time understanding the requirements of the incentives offered by your utility/city/state/federal govt - in all, that's at least another 10-24 hours of research, discussion, and reading. A book costing 2-3 times as much with much more detail might therefore be more beneficial. Or simply following the FREE links, as I originally espoused below, might still be the best approach since either way it is going to take time to understand it all - but only if you really are serious about installing residential solar. Otherwise, if you simply want to gain enough insights to evaluate solar, and determine its prospects for your home and situation, then this is a very good book for you.
BTW, this book is very similar to the other "Dummies" Book - "Solar Power Your Home For Dummies (For Dummies Series)".
ORIGINAL REVIEW COMMENTS ON MAY 1, 2008: 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.
- Reviewed by customer ID: AG5X4F6IZYQWI
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