Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #733331 in Books
• Published on: 1999-10-01
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 392 pages

Customer Reviews

The Fluorescent Lamp of Experience
After living in the mountains for thirty years, Richard Perez, editor in chief of Home Power magazine, concluded that the key to security is independence. Of the many reasons to turn to more efficient, renewable energy sources, independence and self-reliance might be the most attractive to many Americans.

I don't expect everyone to follow Perez back into the wilderness, but it is unnecessary to imitate every aspect of the lives of these new pioneers in order to learn from them. You don't have to be a hippie to see what works. These folks have been testing the technology that may eventually make America independent again. Fortunately they are willing to let the rest of us benefit from their experience.

Potts calls his book an approach to homely science, reminding us that ecology derives from Greek and Latin words for home and household. It is also clear that he is trying to revive an entire world view. His "whole-home" approach encompasses technology, biology, religion, politics, and economics, and it doesn't always work. The attempt to say a little bit about everything, and to find it all connected, leads to disorganization, repetition, and confusion.

On the other hand, the book's variety makes it ideal for browsing and for introducing the topics one has to consider before living partially or completely off the grid. There are chapters on solar panels, wind turbines, hydro turbines, as well as sidebars on the costs of refrigeration, developments in window technology and insulation, and how to take care of deep-cycle batteries. Interspersed with these topics are interviews with homesteaders, who reveal what has changed since the first edition of Potts' book. The revision also includes a section of color photos of energy efficient homes, a glossary, and an annotated bibliography.

Most of the work the new pioneers have been doing over the years has been either on their own or within a community of fellow homesteaders, engineers, and independent dealers, without the assistance of government. What they have learned deserves honest consideration.

Interesting for the earthy types, useless for green suburbs
The book was easy to read without much detail regarding brands, specifics and the 'devil of the details'.

writing, after installing our new energy star washer we noticed that we could wash clothes even during cloudy days. Not exactly a comment that would relate to the 90% of the masses.

I thought this book would cover all sorts of homes, but instead the well versed marketing tricked me into believing that.

No where did it cover a relatively normal house, builder etc, that incorporated the inxpensive changes necessary for a home to be more energy efficient, nor cover what appliances, were good or bad to avoid. It was a buy a plot of land in nowhereville, 'sell' part of it to other earthies, and build a straw or dirt filled tire house.

Um, where's the information about manufactured homes that come super-insulated with low power appliances, and PV from the factory for the other 90%.

If you want to see the types of people that are the ones that the congress, senate, DOE, and EPA see as pro-independent, it's no wonder there's little public knowledge of solar, wind and water power.

As for the pro-nuke guy, if my first exposure was this book, I'd be as short-sighted as him, the solar and wind CAN make a difference, but it's gotta be for the masses.

Alternative energy or Nuclear?
Being an architect I am really concerned with sustainable living and green design. Once upon a time I was thinking that alternative energy sources would be the future of the energy sector, but as I read and read about these kind of energy sources lots of question marks appeared in my mind. As I deepened my studies about the subject I came to a conclusion that hoping to achieve our energy from sun, wind etc. is a very romantic idea (I am not against romanticism) and it is not very realistic. Now I know that THE CLEANEST AND CHEAPEST SOURCE OF ENERGY IS NUCLEAR ENERGY. This book tells stories of ordinary people who tried to achieve enough energy from sun, wind etc. for their daily use, with too much effort which I really appreciate. But just baking a cake in an oven or any other simple daily event musn't require that kind of effort and money. I thank to this book for awakening me about nuclear energy by showing the other side of the coin. Anyway if you are living off-the-grid and really really want to use PV's or wind mills to turn your TV on this book may help by telling how others succeeded(?) to do that.