Above:
Power with Nature: Alternative Energy Solutions for Homeowners Updated
All books in the category Solar-Wind
by: Rex A. Ewing
Topics include:
Dr. Mark McCray, RMS Electric
Loaded with practical information to help almost anyone gain better understanding of using and living with renewable energy. Very readable! --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Library Journal, April 2003
Ewing writes in a folksy, informal manner, and readers will find his hands-on primer worthwhile. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Doug Pratt, Real Goods
Much needed, up-to-date book on renewable energy. An easy read, based on real people?s experiences. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Product Description
Be your own power company and let Mother Nature provide the energy! By investing in affordable, new technologies, you can join the thousands of homeowners who get free electricity from the sun, wind and water. In this updated 2nd edition of Power With Nature, you'll learn how easy it is to use renewable energy to become self-sufficient and live well anywhere! - Off-Grid Solar PV, Wind and Micro-Hydro Systems
- Homeowner Profiles (Personal Power Companies)
- Utility Grid-Tie Options
- Sizing Your Renewable Energy System
- Charge Controllers, Inverters, Batteries
- Putting It All Together Safely
- Heating of House and Water
- Pumping Water
- Worksheets, Maps, Resources, Glossary, Index and much more!
About the Author
Rex Ewing has lived blissfully off-grid with solar and wind energy since 1999 when he left the dusty plains of Colorado and headed for the Rockies to build his wife, LaVonne, a long-promised log home. When he's not writing books or magazine articles about renewable energy -- or his first love, horses -- he and LaVonne are probably trekking through the back country, canoeing, or enjoying the 50-mile view from their deck. Before moving to the mountains to concentrate on his writing, Ewing raised grass hay and high-strung Thoroughbred race horses in the Platte River valley. Whenever his employees were clever enough to corral him behind a desk, he served as CEO of a well-respected equine nutrition firm, where he formulated and marketed a successful line of equine supplements worldwide. Ewing's books include Got Sun? Go Solar; Power With Nature; HYDROGEN -- Hot Stuff Cool Science; Logs, Wind and Sun; and Beyond the Hay Days. His renewable energy magazine columns can be found in Log Homes Illustrated and Countryside Magazine.
Reviews:
Want just facts? Skip the fable at the beginning
Obviously some reviewers couldn't get past the fable at the beginning of this book. If you enjoy a good yarn, read the fable. Rex is a great storyteller. If you only read for the nuts and bolts, skip the fable. Rex covers the nuts and bolts, in detail. He has a wealth of hands-on personal experience with solar and wind systems. That makes for more useful descriptions of how to do stuff, and more honest appraisals of whether you need to. This is real-world experience talking. Learn from his mistakes. Rex has an engaging, folksy way of explaining highly technical stuff that's easy to understand, and fun to read. He covers everything you need to know about, whether you're off-the-grid, or selling your excess electrons to your friendly local electric utility. Lots of great pictures, graphics and sidebars to keep it interesting. This is one of the best, maybe THE BEST, renewable energy intro book available.
Solar Enlightenment At Las
Wow, I can only say I wish Rex Ewing had written Power By Nature five years ago when my wife and I were first planning our great escape to the mountains of Colorado. Our house site was a long way from the nearest power line, and we hated the idea of seeing power poles go up on our peaceful mountaintop. But when we started looking into solar and/or wind power, the literature available at the time was so technical, we felt like we'd need an engineering degree just to read the book. I'm pretty handy, but we finally gave up and, as Ewing so drolly puts it, turned ourselves over to Planet Power. If we'd had his book, I think we might have made a different choice, because he explains everything clearly and simply, gives you lots of practical advice on what to do and how to do it, and best of all, because he and his wife have done it already, he makes you confident you can lead a normal life with all those normal necessities we all have to have - from computers to VCR's and freezers. With no more bills to pay from the power company. Even more amazing, somehow Ewing manages to make even the most technical parts fun to read. There are plenty of anecdotes and stories, and the book starts off with a modern-day fable that will put a smile on your face. We're recommending this book to all our friends plotting escapes of their own - it's must reading!
Pumps to appliances: alternate options
Plenty of energy guides for homeowners advocate getting off the grid; but few do such a good job of explaining just how to go about it as does POWER WITH NATURE: ALTERNATIVE ENERGY SOLUTIONS FOR HOMEOWNERS - now in its updated second edition. From off-grid solar, wind and hydro systems to grid tie in options, systems which can be customized, and appliances which lend to running on solar, chapters offer the latest facts plus maps, resources, worksheets and more. The chapter on putting different systems together is particularly notable for its focus on protecting the systems and people from energy spill problems and damage, while that on pumping rainwater, water for fire protection, and using cisterns offers methods other books usually gloss over: essential for rural homeowners. An outstanding, highly recommended guide.
Should be mandatory reading for all environmentally conscious folk
First, I want to give this book an extra star - I award it 6 out of 5 stars, it's that good.
The book itself gets off to an unusual beginning. The fable style takes you by surprise at first then, as you persevere everything clicks into place. That fable provides background for the rest of the book which is exactly what the author intended. To have a book that, by necessity provides technical information, yet lets you read it without even considering a lack of a science degree is a critical success factor.
This book is immensely useful and readable... and enjoyable. Whoever says conservation and science are stuffy subjects needs to have this book to reverse their view.
My wife, Mary, and I are going to retire to a home with solar and wind energy. We know that will be daunting task. Rex Ewing's book provides enough to remove the fear and trepidation of our plan. Thanks to you Rex and your wife LaVonne.
We Did What He Said, and it Worked
Rex Ewing's Power with Nature was the only book we needed to tell us how to power our vacation home in Costa Rica. Our home is about ten miles from the nearest electrical lines and we had decided to do solar electric. I prepared myself mentally for plowing through a bunch of technical details and began reading. I was pleasantly surprised. In addition to telling you all the nitty gritty about power, this book is witty and fun to read, quite user friendly. After reading Ewing's explanation of the different options for off-the-grid power, we decided on a roof-top solar array with a bank of batteries in the basement. Here in Costa Rica there is plenty of sun in the dry season. But in the rainy season we get lots of rain and the streams are all full. That's a problem because the cloudy conditions mean less solar energy. So we decided to supplement the solar with a water-driven Jack Rabbit turbine--something we didn't know existed before reading this book--in the stream that runs behind our house. I'm a complete dunce about electricity and my husband is just as bad, but Ewing's book tells it all in a way that even we could understand. We did exactly what he said and, guess what? Everything worked, just like it did for Rex and LaVonne. If you want to learn about alternatives to traditional forms of power, or do like we did and actually build it yourself, I highly recommend Power with Nature.
