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Real Goods Solar Living Source Book-Special 30th Anniversary Edition: Your Complete Guide to Renewable Energy Technologies and Sustainable Living (Real Goods Solar Living Sourcebook)

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Concerns over dwindling resources and environmental degradation are driving many to seek alternatives to our wasteful, polluting lifestyle. Clean technologies such as solar power, wind power, and biodiesel fuel are soaring in popularity.

Real Goods Solar Living Source Book-Special 30th Anniversary Edition is the ultimate guide to renewable energy, sustainable living, green building, homesteading, off-the-grid living, and alternative transportation, written by experts with decades of experience and a passion for sharing their knowledge. This fully updated edition includes brand-new sections on Peak Oil, climate change, relocalization, natural burial, biodynamics, and permaculture. It also boasts the latest product listings and completely rewritten and expanded chapters on:

• Land and shelter
• Natural building
• Passive solar
• Biofuels
• Sustainable transportation
• Grid-tied photovoltaics
• Solar hot water systems
• Plus, over 150 pages of maps, wiring diagrams, formulae, charts, solar sizing worksheets, and much more

Whether you're a layperson or a professional, novice or longtime aficionado, the new sourcebook puts the latest research and products at your fingertips-all the information you need to make sustainable living a reality.

John Schaeffer is the president and founder of Real Goods, the oldest and largest catalog company devoted to the sale and service of renewable-energy products. Now merged with Gaiam, Real Goods has converted over sixty thousand homes to solar energy since 1978, when it sold the very first photovoltaic module in America. Real Goods hosts the annual SolFest at its Solar Living Center headquarters in Hopland, California.

Great Resource for Getting Started with Alternative Energy Solutions -
This is great resource for real world implementation of alternative energy solutions. Provides a step by step resource to help make it a reality. Good starting point. I was surprised it covered more than just solar technologies to include:
- Wind
- Hydro
- and others.

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Great source for most solar usages -
While the DOE (Department of Energy) has a good informative internet site (that is free), I decided on the Real Goods book because I have been familiar with Real Goods for many years. While it cost me some dollars, it is nicely organized and some what complete.

Excellent -
This book is the absolute best for covering renewable energy on a residential-sized scale. It covers all things solar/renewable energy: converting solar energy to electricity, wind generators, solar water heating, solar water pumping, energy conservation, off-the-electrical grid and grid intertie applications. There's an appendix with charts, maps and worksheets that help you design your own solar home and energy system. It is well written, with the information easy to follow. There is just enough theory included so you can follow the technical descriptions of the system components. It's got 634 pages and there's not much wasted space. The chapter on "Natural Burial" is a little over-the-top, but I guess the editor is just trying to be comprehensive.
I have lived off-grid for over seven years and teach a renewable energy class at a nearby community college. I tell my students that if they are going to buy just one book on renewable energy, to buy this, the latest edition of the Solar Living Sourcebook.
Keep in mind, this is a catalog for Giam/Real Goods. Products and services are described and prices are listed. They would like you to do business with them. I have found that many of the products listed can be found cheaper elsewhere, but having the prices listed is a plus...you can put together a system and get a ball-park figure (a little on the high side) on how much the system will cost you. In my opinion, Real Goods is a reputable company, very service oriented, and very knowledgeable.
If you want more information on residential sized renewable energy systems, the magazine Home Power (www.homepower.com) is superb. They publish six issues a year, with a hands-on type format that makes you want to get out there and build something!
If you are interested in using solar energy to make electricity, but want the advantages of being tied to the grid, the book Got Sun? Go Solar by Rex Ewing and Doug Pratt is excellent. If living off-the-grid is more to your taste, check out The Renewable Energy Handbook by William Kemp.

Wonderful resource -
I gave this book to friends for Christmas. They are in the process of building a "green" home, and have found the book very valuable!

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Real Goods Solar -
I wish I had checked out the library copy before buying. If you're looking for a broad-based overview of eneregy options -- Solar, thermal, greywater, micro-hydro, landscape lights, bird fountains, etc -- this can be your one-shop-stop. Real Goods has blended energy overviews with their catalog, so if micro-hydro-electric (!?!?) interests you, then by all means look no further, Real Goods will be happy to retail out their product to you. However, I found most of the energy information available out on the 'net --free and more specific and informative, and alternate sources for energy products and options more abundant and lots cheaper.

If you have a serious interest in something specific, example PV systems, I found no single source, but recommend Kemp, "Got Sun? Go Solar" for helpful overview and great links and resources, and "The Renewable Energy Handbook", a better option to Real Goods. All from Amazon, and more applicable for actually getting greener and saving a buck in the process. These leave searching for the best and most applicable products and options to you, and there's much out there to choose from, and some very informative nuggets to be had along the way.

(FWIW: our city recently held a sustainable living fair, attended by Real Goods. But when I followed up on their "Call us when you're ready, happy to help you go green!", I received an abrupt "We don't service your area.". I guess green refers to the energy movement AND to those ready to cash in on it.)