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Got Sun? Go Solar: Get Free Renewable Energy to Power Your Grid-Tied Home
From Booklist Learn a new vocabulary! Take a refresher course on the electrical power of the sun and the wind! Although the enthusiasm of renewable-energy experts Ewing and Pratt might get a bit wearing, they've developed a nontechnical reference and guide for home owners thinking about pulling the plug on their utility connections. In fact, after a look at the table of contents, the appendixes just might be the right place to start figuring out whether photovoltaic panel installation makes sense geographically and financially and which states offer rebates or incentives. A host of resources is also offered. Sidebars (e.g., special meter or no?) and trivia (e.g., the watt is named after its Scottish-born inventor) plus numerous charts, illustrations, and anecdotes help demystify the science and math. No windy authors here. Barbara Jacobs Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved Product Review GOT SUN gets it right. Clear and concise, all the information needed by anyone who wants solar or wind energy. --Jeff Wolfe, Global Resource Options Reader Reviews I've lived off-grid with a PV system long enough to recognize how realistic and practical Rex's books and magazine articles on solar living are. Now preparing to build on property already furnished with grid power, I wondered whether a grid-intertie system was a good idea or if it would turn out to be just a costly indulgence of my renewable-energy philosophies. Now that I've met Rex and LaVonne, visited their PV-powered home, and read this book, I'm convinced that there will be no regrets. Where I live there are apparently no financial incentives, other than net metering, for grid-intertie installations. This book points out that many states and localities do have quite attractive incentive programs and suggests ways to find out. If you live in such a place, lucky you! Go for it! "Got Sun? Go Solar" doesn't provide all the information you'll need. There are too many variables: personal preference, budget, climate, local politics and attitudes, and so on. Rex and his co-author, Doug Pratt, have instead compiled a guidebook with enough technical background to understand the nature of grid-intertie technology plus resources (many on the Internet) where you can acquire the rest of the information you need. Don't be concerned that this will be dry reading. The only "dry" is the humor that fills the book. In the world of PV energy there are many funny stories and you'll get to read some of them. Comment | | (Report this)
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