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Home & Interior Design books:
Photovoltaics: Design and Installation Manual

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Producing electricity from the sun using photovoltaic (PV) systems has become a major industry worldwide. But designing, installing and maintaining such systems requires knowledge and training, and there have been few easily accessible, comprehensive guides to the subject.

Now, with Photovoltaics: Design and Installation Manual, a world-class solar energy training and education provider-Solar Energy International (SEI)-has made available the critical information to successfully design, install and maintain PV systems. The book contains an overview of photovoltaic electricity and a detailed description of PV system components, including PV modules, batteries, controllers and inverters. It also includes chapters on sizing photovoltaic systems, analyzing sites and installing PV systems, as well as detailed appendices on PV system maintenance, troubleshooting and solar insolation data for over 300 sites around the world. Used worldwide as the textbook in SEI's PV Design & Installation workshops, topics covered include:

The basics of solar electricity
PV applications and system components
Solar site analysis and mounting
Stand-alone and PV/generator hybrid system sizing
Utility-interactive PV systems
Component specification, system costs and economics
Case studies and safety issues

Photovoltaics guarantees that those wanting to learn the skills of tapping the sun's energy can do so with confidence.

Solar Energy International (SEI) has the nonprofit mission to respond to the need for renewable energy education. Based in Carbondale, Colorado, and active around the world, SEI is a link between people and renewable energy resources, providing information, education and training to people who want to shape a sustainable future. SEI is recognized by the National Board of Certified Energy Practitioners (NABCEP) as dedicated independent provider of PV training programs that may be used toward attaining PV certification. Also, SEI is recognized as an Accredited Institution to offer PV training by the Institute for Sustainable Power (ISP).

Best book on setting up with solar power -
There is no such thing as a perfect book, but I have read all of those other books on solar. None of them tell you how to setup a system. This one does. It comes as close to perfect as you they get.

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Comprehensive it's not! -
Given all the raves this book got I was pretty disappointed. I was expecting a comprehensive design and install manual. What I got was PV 101.
It's not bad if you have no background in the field and want a basic intro but this manual sorely lacks in depth material on the subject. I am a contractor looking to expand into PV installations. This book bare got my feet wet.

To be fair...you probably should buy this...but... -
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. *** Don't get me wrong - spending a few $100 yearly on many good books is not a problem for me. But when I've already paid tax dollars for outstanding American research, development, and "free" public domain resources - AND they are apparently waiting for me to simply find and use, well NOT to do so is plain un-American!

PV Design & Installation -
This book was exceptionally well written and logically compiled. It's content is backed up by comprehensive and clear diagrams. A thouroughly researched ensemble that makes it a benchmark for educational purposes too.

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Book helped me study for NABCEP exam -
I took three courses (70 hours) of formal instruction in PV and each class required this textbook, which was economical because I didn't have to shell out for materials more than once. This book is written in straightforward language and keeps PV concepts clean and concise. I found the test problems at the end of each chapter to be an extremely helpful way to check my understanding of what I just read. It would be great if there were more of them and fewer charts in the appendix, because much of the latter could be found online. The illustrations were great and so was most of the supplementary material, such as the glossary, at book's back. I used this book to study for the NABCEP entry-level exam, which I just sat for. It was difficult, but would have been even more so had I not used this book to study with.