Green-Trust.Org

We talked about Grid Beam as a inventors and experimenters dream before, but the more we dig into it, the more we get excited about it. If you missed our last article on the subject, Grid Beam is a system of easy to bolt together modular components made of metal, wood, or plastic. This system has been developed over the past 60+ years, starting with the original inventor, Ken Isaacs. He called the system “Living Structures”.

Ideal for rapid prototyping, ease of disassembly, moving and reassembly. Fun for kids and adults. Solar mounts, wind turbines, hydroelectric, electric vehicles (cars, trains, submarines and more) are just some of the ways to use this system. We develop solutions using microcontrollers in a variety of electro-mechanical, hydraulic, and pneumatic applications and have many uses for grid beam as a platform for these solutions. Check it out!

How to build with Grid Beam

Isaacs, Ken – How To Build Your Own Living Structures (Free Download)

There are many types of disasters, ranging from physical (ice storm to tornado), financial (job loss), or geopolitical (misguided political decrees to all out war). When preparing, it’s important to decide what you are preparing for, what is most likely to occur, and what can you survive. Not much point in preparing for an asteroid hit, because the odds of surviving one are as remote as the event itself happening. If it does, don’t worry about it too much, you are toast anyway. Lists of stuff to buy are much less helpful than learning how to use what you have. Stock what you normally use in life, and learn how to use it in ways never considered, the old panty hose as a fan belt trick for instance. We have several books on preparedness, from Rawles’s “How to Survive the End of the World as We Know It”, to Gehring’s “The Homesteading Handbook”.

The most useful I believe is Bradley’s “The Disaster Preparedness Handbook”. It’s written like your Uncle Bob showing you how to split wood in the backyard. Not preachy, not telling you all the stuff you need to buy, just practical advice on basics, what things to look for, how to handle events, and how to stay safe and healthy, regardless of what life throws at you. The emphasis is on learning to do, not “I have more pails of wheat than you do, therefore I’m a better prepper”.

There’s a plethora of gung ho, survivalist books out there who indicate survival is about how many rounds of ammo you have, or describing the need to forage wild edibles, build a lean to, and skin a squirrel. This isn’t that kind of book. Decide what you need to survive, how to survive it, and built a network of like minded friends, and you’ll be prepared for much of life’s surprises.

Hard to believe, but it’s true. We are sending a free 12w 48v solar panel and fan with every order of two ebooks. Perfect as attic fans or solar air heaters.

Get our DIY Solar, Rainwater harvesting, DIY Methane or other ebooks, and we will send you a free solar panel and fan as a thank you.

Merry Christmas!

http://www.green-trust.org/products/

RENEWABLE POWER FOR AMATEUR RADIO (and other electronic devices)
by Larry D. Barr, K5WLF

About the author: Larry D. Barr is an Amateur Extra class amateur radio operator, first licensed in 1966. He is uniquely qualified to write on this subject, having lived offgrid for 19 months with the majority of his electricity provided by a Wincharger 1222H wind generator. Larry is a journey level electrician, an alternative energy systems designer and the former editor of Energy Self Sufficiency Newsletter. His pickup mounted, solar powered ham radio installation was featured in the American Radio Relay League’s “We Do That” video series and on their website. Currently employed as the Planetarium Manager for Tarleton State University in Texas, Larry continues to be active in renewable energy and looks forward to living offgrid again in the near future.

Because of my interest and involvement in renewable energy, I’m often asked by other amateur radio (ham) operators about the best way to run their stations on renewable energy sources. Most of these queries pertain to solar, or photovoltaic (PV), sources, but we’ll also mention wind and minihydro in addition to PV in this article.

The good news is that modern, solid state ham rigs lend themselves extremely well to renewable power. They draw relatively little current at a nominal 12 VDC, and therefore require fairly modest expenditures in generating devices.

The bad news is that hams who like the old vacuum tube (hollow state) rigs will not be able to power those old “boat anchors” without a serious layout of funds for PV panels or a much larger than usual wind generator. The old rigs simply draw too much current to be practical for operation on a renewable system.

So, let’s look at the practicality of running a modern, 100 watt, solid state transceiver like my Yaesu FT897D on a PV system. It’s easy to do – and at a relatively low cost for the solar setup.

First, let’s consider the power required to operate the radio. There are two distinctly different current requirements for the unit. One is the power required for the radio to receive incoming signals. That’s about one ampere (1A) at a nominal 12 volts direct current (12 VDC). Nominal 12VDC turns out to be somewhere in the vicinity of 12.6 VDC, for a fully charged 12 volt battery, to around 13.8 VDC which is the output of an average vehicle alternator. We’ll mostly stick with 12 VDC for this article just to make the calculations easy.

The other requirement is 22A while transmitting at the full 100 watt output level. Well, you’d think that wouldn’t take long to run down a battery, and you’d be right. But think a minute. We don’t transmit all the time. Actually, the ratio of transmit to receive in normal ham operation is right at 1:9. 10% transmit and 90% receive.

Now, we need to figure out how many Amphours (Ah) we’ll use per clock hour in normal operation. Amphours is the numbers of amps, the current, consumed over a period of one hour. It’s the way the battery capacity is rated. As I said earlier, normal radio operation is generally calculated at 90% receive and 10% transmit.

So, in 1 clock hour we’re consuming:
(1A X 0.9h) + (22A X 0.1h) = (0.9Ah + 2.2Ah) = 3.1 Ah

Figuring our 100Ah battery at 50Ah, because we don’t ever want to take the battery below 50% depth of discharge, we divide:
50Ah / (3.1Ah/hour) = 16.129 hours

Which is about 16 hours and 8 minutes from a fully charged battery. I run two 100 Ah sealed lead acid (SLA) batteries in my battery banks for a rated 200 Ah capacity and a ‘real world’ capacity of 100 Ah. That doubles my run time to about 32 hours and 16 minutes.

There are those who will disagree with me about my advice to never exceed 50% depth of discharge in a deep cycle battery. They are welcome to do so. And I will never loan one of those folks my batteries. Your batteries will last much longer and provide better service to the end of their life if you follow my advice. Each time a battery is drawn below 50% charge, it gives up a small part of its longevity. Personally, I can’t afford to replace batteries before the natural end of their life. So, I treat them well. My shack and pickup batteries are over six years old and still operating at peak efficiency.

I must mention here that manufacturers base the capacity ratings of their batteries on the assumption that the discharge will be made at a constant rate. That rate is assumed to be one twentieth (1/20) of the published Amperehour rating of the battery. In the case of our single 100Ah battery, the rate would be 5A. For our 200 Ah bank, it would be 10A. This relationship is called C (capacity) / 20. You’ll see it published simply as C/20 or ‘the C/20 rate’.

Any deviation from this C/20 rate, especially discharge rates which exceed it, will result in a different amount of power available from the battery. If we exceed the C/20 rate, the capacity of the battery will be less. In many cases, much less. It depends on the extent to which we exceed the C/20 rate of discharge.

In the case of our 100 Ah example, since our calculated rate of discharge was 3.1Ah/hour (or 3.1A), we were below the C/20 rate of 5A and should get at least the run time we calculated. However, if we were to exceed the C/20 rate, our run time would be less. How much less would be proportional to the amount above the C/20 rate that we imposed on the battery. If our discharge rate is below C/20, we may get a bit more. But let’s figure for worst case and not count on it. This phenomenon has been well documented by a gentleman named Peukert and his analysis of the effect is known as Peukert’s Theorem.

We should note, and must accept, that this does not indicate that the battery is faulty. It’s simply reacting in accordance with the laws of physics and chemistry that batteries operate under. To draw an analogy — if you bought a car and the manual stated that you could expect 25 MPG at 50 MPH, it would be unreasonable to expect that same mileage at 120 MPH. You’ve changed one of the variables in the equation and you can’t expect the result to be the same.

Now, let’s look at the PV panels and other gear required to support our FT897D on a solar electric diet.

My system consists of two UniSolar US64 amorphous panels rated at 64 watts each. They’re connected in parallel for a total of 128 watts. With the Xantrex C12 charge controller set at an output voltage of 14.2VDC – it seems high, but it’s right for the SLA batteries – that gives me about 9.01 amps to the batteries. Let’s just call it 9 amps. So, in one clock hour, I’ve put 9 amphours back into the batteries. That’s almost a 3:1 ratio of input to output.

Truth be told, I usually see about 7.4 amps, more or less, from the panels going into the battery bank. But that’s more than twice what I’m using and certainly explains why, on occasion, I’ve gone out on a radio mission with less than fully charged batteries, worked on the air for four hours or so and returned home with a fully charged battery bank. And all free, from Mother Nature.

My UniSolar panels aren’t available anymore. Unisolar has decided to dedicate their manufacturing capability to mainly Building Integrated PhotoVoltaic (BIPV) and has discontinued their line of discrete PV panels. We recently mounted a Kyocera 235 watt panel on our local ham club’s tower trailer, and if I were buying now that’s what I’d get for myself.

Let’s look at the total cost of a PV system to run the radios using the Kyocera panel.

The PV panel will run you about $375, the Schneider/Xantrex C35 controller with the CM digital display (recommended) is about $165, and a pair of PowerSonic 100 Ah SLA batteries will round out the system for $275 each or $550 for the pair. That’s a total of $1090 for the system. With proper care, the panel and the controller will last you for a lifetime. The life span of the batteries depends on you. I’ve been running mine for about six years now, and they’re still doing their job, and doing it well. If you abuse them, by discharging them below 50% capacity, or over or under charging them, their life span will decrease.

Now, let’s talk about wind power for a minute. If I were buying a wind generator today, I’d get an Air 30 turbine made by Southwest Windpower. It’s a 400 watt unit and has all the controller circuitry built in. At peak output, it’ll give you somewhere around 25 amps, and because of the integral controller, it interfaces seamlessly with a PV system. Cost is somewhere in the neighborhood of $600. If you live where wind is one of your most prevalent natural resources, you might get by with just the Air 30, but I really recommend a hybrid system that uses more than one source. Wind and PV is a great combination, for many times when the wind is blowing the most, the sun is obscured.

Minihydro is a wonderful power source if you have a year round watercourse on your property. If you don’t, just forget about it. My dream is to find a property with a year round stream on it, but unless I win the Lotto and maybe leave Texas (not likely), I’ll never find it. Don’t even fret over hydro unless you can provide your system with a reliable and continuous source of water. There aren’t many locations available with that resource and it’s best to not even think about it unless you already own it. If there’s a call for it, I’ll gladly write about minihydro at length in a future article.

OK. let’s summarize. I’ve explained how to calculate the draw of your radio. We’ve discussed the factors that control battery run time and battery life. We have talked about the initial cost of a PV system, and considered adding a wind turbine to the system. It’s easy to add other 12VDC devices, such as lighting or entertainment devices, to the system. Just do your calcs and ensure that you’re not drawing your battery bank below 50% capacity. Be sure to follow all appropriate wiring codes and make damn sure that your wiring is safe and overload protected. Enjoy the free energy that Mother Nature provides. ldb

Off grid info and components available at http://www.green-trust.org/products/

Discuss Amateur radio and alternative energy topics at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Alt_Energy_Hams/

With the world’s population surging north of seven billion, we’re pushing limited land resources harder to produce food and energy. Often, the two are in competition: using farmland to grow feedstock for biofuels drives up food prices. Fortunately, there is still one place on Earth where space is abundant and it makes up over 70 percent of the planet’s surface. The ocean is awash with potential for alternative energy.

But how are renewable energy initiatives faring on the high seas? There are hurdles to every renewable development, including environmental impacts, aesthetic concerns and high costs. But there are a number of technologies — from the far out to the icky to the downright cool – that have the potential to harness energy from the oceans.

Here is a look at the most fascinating recent innovations in marine renewable: http://www.txchnologist.com/2011/marine-renewables-farming-the-ocean-for-energy

SkySails

Floating Solar Panels

Marine Algae Power

Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion

Texas School for the Deaf in Austin Wins Global Green USA’s National Green School Makeover Competition
Presented by Pureology

Four Runner-Up Schools Receive $2,500 for Sustainability Upgrades

New York, NY (December 6, 2011) – Today Pureology and Global Green USA announced that the Texas School for the Deaf in Austin, TX, is the grand prize winner in the Global Green USA Green School Makeover Competition, presented by Pureology. As part of the grand prize, the Texas School for the Deaf will receive the ultimate Green School Makeover worth $130,000.

Four runner-up schools—which will each receive $2,500 towards sustainability upgrades—were also named: Garlough Environmental School in St. Paul, MN; Heritage Middle School in Berwyn, IL; Samuel Powel Elementary School in Philadelphia, PA; and Zimmerman School House/Abi’s Place in Coral Springs, FL, a school for children with disabilities.

The grand-prize winner and runners-up were selected by a panel of judges out of a pool of more than 220 public, private and charter K – 12 schools that submitted proposals for green school renovations.

“Global Green USA has been greening schools for more than a decade—we believe every child deserves a healthy learning environment,” said Matt Petersen, President and CEO of Global Green. “Green schools improve student performance, increase average daily attendance, and reduce operating costs, energy and water consumption. We are deeply excited to be able to bring those benefits to the students and teachers at the extraordinary Texas School for the Deaf.”

The Texas School for the Deaf (TSD) is the oldest continuously operating, publicly funded school in Texas. Since 1857, over 10,000 K – 12 grade students have graced the halls of TSD and benefitted from the school’s diverse program levels to ensure that each student will be able to learn at his or her most effective rate. As part of the grand prize, the school will receive the ultimate Green School Makeover including $65,000 for school renovations and an additional $65,000 worth of technical assistance.

“We are so excited that Pureology and Global Green have given us this opportunity,” said TSD Superintendent Claire Bugen. “Unlike other public schools, we live on this campus 24 hours a day and we generate a lot of waste. This prize will help us take our fledgling recycling efforts to the next level and install some important tools, like automatic faucets, to help us become more sustainable.”

With the funds received through the Green School Makeover Competition, the school plans to:

Update facilities to allow for energy efficient upgrades:

o Retrofitting light fixtures to allow for energy efficient bulbs, and motion-activated lights and conserve energy. Cost savings from the energy efficient upgrades will be reinvested back into the education programs.

Initiate water conservation tactics:

o Reduce water usage and consumption by installing hands-free faucets in lavatories and collecting rainwater in barrels to be used for watering the school grounds.

o TSD spends $20,000 in bottled water every year – switching to reusable bottles and installing a tap filtration system allows funds saved to be put back into education

Initiate waste reduction tactics:

o Install hands-free hand dryers in restrooms which use less paper and save materials from going to the landfills. It will also reduce supply costs for the school, cut down on waste and reduce staff time replenishing paper towels and emptying trash.

Educate student body on recycling:

o Install recycling bins near trashcans across campus to make recycling easier and encourage recycling campus-wide.

o Educate school community on recycling and spread habits to home life to support a greener lifestyle.

Four runner-up schools will each receive $2,500 towards their proposed sustainability upgrades:

1. Garlough Environmental School (St. Paul, MN)

Install a yurt[1] to be used as a teaching space for their multi-cultural nature class
Implement a 20-student bicycle-bus to serve as an alternative to school buses
Install a chicken coop as a compliment to the already existing organic garden beds

2. Heritage Middle School (Berwyn, IL)

Remove disposable products in cafeteria to reusable ones (i.e., silverware, trays, carts)
Switch to compact fluorescent lights which use 1/5 less power and have a longer rated life (six to ten times average)

3. Samuel Powel Elementary School (Philadelphia, PA)

Plant an organic vegetable garden to teach children about agriculture, nutrition, and ecology
Redirect storm water into rain gardens filled with native plants to provide opportunities for learning math, biology, ecology, physics

4. Zimmerman School House/Abi’s Place (Coral Springs, FL) (Children w/ disabilities)

Install eco-friendly flooring
Use of non-toxic paint, flooring and cleaning products
Upgrade facilities to enhance education programs on functional activities for daily living

“Pureology is proud to support Global Green USA and present the Green School Makeover Competition to help improve the lives of students while educating parents, teachers, students and the public about the importance of creating healthy green classrooms,” states Shae Kalyani, Vice President of Marketing for Pureology. “We are thrilled The Texas School for the Deaf won and are looking forward to seeing the outcome for all of the winning schools!”

To follow the progress of TSD’s green makeover, please visit Pureology’s Facebook page. Pureology will be documenting the renovation process with photos and videos from January through June of 2012.

To view the winning entries, and to learn how you can implement green improvements in your school, home and community, please visit please visit www.globalgreen.org/greenschools

Homebrew Wind Power – A HANDS-ON GUIDE TO HARNESSING THE WIND

reviewed by Larry D. Barr http://www.rebelwolf.com

I read a book last weekend. Now, this is certainly not out of the ordinary. I read a lot of books. Some of them, like Stephen King’s The Stand, I read about once a year. And I’ve probably read almost everything Martin Caidin ever wrote four or five times. Or more. However, the book I read last weekend is certainly out of the ordinary.

It’s called Homebrew Wind Power – A HANDS-ON GUIDE TO HARNESSING THE WIND. The book is written by Dan Bartmann and Dan Fink, a couple of guys who live (and create wind turbines) in a small off-grid community somewhere up in the north-west part of Colorado. A few years ago, when I was the editor of an online publication called Energy Self Sufficiency Newsletter, Dan Fink was one of our regular columnists, writing under the handle of “The Wind Bag”. DanF, as he’s also known, proved himself very adept at sharing his vast knowledge and his insights into the vagaries of the wind, and the various ways it can be captured and cajoled into sharing some of its energy (but never more than 59.26%) in the form of usable electricity.

The Two Dans have been working on this book for several years, and about two weeks ago I got an email from DanF asking me if I’d like an ‘advance review copy’ to look over and possibly share my reactions with y’all, the readers of Rebel Wolf Online. Of course I said “Yes” and the book arrived in a few days. As I removed the book from the bubblepack envelope, it was immediately apparent that this was a quality tome. It’s 8” X 10”, with a soft 12 point C1S cover (C1S is printer talk for Coated with plastic on 1 Side), and contains 320 pages of 100% post consumer waste recycled paper, a spectacular cover shot of a wind turbine
flying in a Rocky Mountain sunset and more appendices than the Dionne quintuplets.

I don’t necessarily consider myself a wind energy expert, even though I lived off-grid for about 19 months back in the ’70s with a Wincharger 1222H as my main source of power. However, I’m pretty well versed in the overall discipline and so I wasn’t sure just how much I’d learn from this volume. I learned a hell of a lot.

Mick Sagrillo’s foreword, written in Mick’s usual “if you didn’t want the answer, why’d you ask the question?” style, will be a real eye-opener for the renewable energy newbie who thinks that wind power is a simple “plug and play” experience. Mick Sagrillo is one of the ‘gods’ of renewable energy and getting Mick to write the forward for your book is a lot like Enzo Ferrari looking at your home-built car and saying, “You done good, Kid.”

The first four chapters, which cover wind energy theory, basic electricity and elementary magnetics are intended to bring the wind energy neophyte ‘up to speed’, and basically served only as a review for me. I’ve always been comfortable with the theories and math of renewable energy. And ten years as a working electrician gave me a very solid grounding (sorry) in the electrical department.

When I got into Chapter 5, “Furling and Regulation” my wind turbine education truly began. You see, my little Wincharger didn’t furl – it just had a couple of centrifugally activated flaps that came out when the wind speed got too high and slowed the rig down to a hopefully safe speed. Anything faster than that and I was supposed to be home and physically set the brake and secure it. Primitive yes, but it was a 1930s era design and it worked fine in the area I was living in at the time.

However, that’s not the way it’s done anymore and The Two Dans have designed and implemented a virtually fail-safe mechanism for the self-protection of their wind turbine design. In the interest of historical accuracy, I should mention here (as The Two Dans acknowledge repeatedly in the book) that the original axial-flux design didn’t originate in the wilds of Colorado with DanB and DanF.

The credit for the original concept goes to Hugh Piggott, another of the gods of renewable energy. Hugh lives in Scoraig, Scotland, many kilometres beyond the reach of the grid and pioneered a radial-flux wind turbine design built from old truck brake drums., which was the first homebrew design to have a furling tail. Then, as the price of neodymium magnets came down, Hugh invented the axial-flux design. Remember that Hugh’s initial challenge was twofold.

First, to electrify the little settlement of Scoraig. His second challenge was to devise a turbine that wouldn’t self-destruct in the vicious winds coming off the North Sea at N 57° 55′. Now, I’ve never been to Scoraig, Scotland. But my friend Ash lives at N 55° on the northern coast of Ireland, and we’ve clocked winds of better than 80 mph at his house. I don’t imagine that things calm down any almost three degrees of latitude further north. So Hugh had his work cut out for him. And he met the challenge brilliantly. Before long, Hugh was traveling the world, giving hands-on workshops for building turbines and bringing electricity to places where it had never been before.

The Dans attended one of Hugh’s workshops in the US and liked it so well they went back for more. After a couple more sessions under Hugh’s tutelage, they got back to their shop in the wilds of the Rockies and started thinking and tinkering and making a few changes here and there. DanB came up with the idea of using Volvo disc brake rotors one cold, dark night and as the process continued, one change led to a couple more — ad infinitum — and the turbine that’s detailed in the book is something like “iteration n+1” and generations removed from Hugh’s original, primitive radial-flux wind generator.

Chapter 6 of the book, “Shop Safety” is an absolute must-read chapter. I don’t care how long you’ve had a shop, worked in a shop or if you’re a rank newbie at building anything. Read this chapter. Then go back and read it again. It will keep you, and those who help you, from getting hurt. As you build your wind turbine, you’ll be working with all kinds of things that can hurt you badly. The magnets used in the turbine are among the strongest, most powerful magnets this side of the Large Hadron Collider and and if you let your hand get in between the two magnet rotors, the resulting collision will turn your fingers to Alpo. So pay attention. The chapter is broken down into sections regarding the safety procedures for each step of the build and each fabrication process you’ll be using. One of the good points that’s made in the
metalworking section is to treat every piece of metal that’s been cut, welded or ground, as if it’s hot. Mighty fine advice. However, I’d recommend that you also do what we always do in my shop. Once you’re done grinding, welding or cutting on a piece, just take your soapstone marker and write “HOT” on the piece in big letters. It might have cooled off by the time your co-worker goes to pick it up, but it’s much better to treat a cold piece of metal like it’s hot than the other way around.

Chapters 7 through 18 take you step by step and piece by piece through the entire process of building your own axial-flux wind generator. Each chapter, each step, each process is illustrated with photos of the components. As you learn what to do and how to do it, you also learn what not to do. The Two Dans also do a wonderful job of of explaining why you’re doing it that way.

Knowing why you’re doing something is vital in a process of this nature, because it gives you a solid foundation in the subject and prepares you for the sometimes not-so-simple task of living with and maintaining the wind monster you’ve created. Even if you’re consumed with an almost overwhelming haste to get the rig in the air, don’t skip over the ‘why’ parts of the book. You’ll need them later.

Chapter 19 is titled “Failures and Prevention”. It’s a machine. It can fail. There are a lot of things that can go wrong with any complex mechanism. This chapter details what to watch for – those little signals a machine gives to let you know that all is not well. The proper maintenance methods are described and, again, illustrated with myriad photos. There’s a very informative section with pictures of machines that have failed, along with a bit of failure analysis so you know why it happened and how to avoid that failure mode with your machine. The chapter concludes with a section on Troubleshooting. You built it, so nobody knows that machine better than you do. You’re also the one that’s going to be repairing it if something goes wrong. Nobody’s better qualified.

If you’re not satisfied with the 10 foot turbine described in the building process in the book, Chapter 20 “Scaling it Up and Down” may be for you. It describes a 17′ unit and also a downsized 7′ turbine. These two units are not as far along in the development process as the 10 footer that we build in this book. The guys have built and flown a few of them, but they don’t have near the hours in the air that the 10 footer does. I’d recommend building the 10 foot turbine first and getting some first-hand experience before setting off into less-charted waters. However, there is some advanced theory in that chapter that will certainly improve your technical understanding of the subject whether you build a larger or smaller unit or not.

Of the remaining two chapters of the book, one is devoted to sources of information, supplies, components, kits, towers, web resources and just about anything else that’s wind energy related.

Chapter 22 is the Glossary wherein you can find definitions for most every wind related term from “AC” to “Zymurgy”. The latter being one of my favorites.

Six appendices round out the book and contain information on tap drill sizes, wire gage, those sometimes pesky metric to English conversions, tools, wind data and other just generally useful brain fodder. I was gratified to see in the production credits that the book was almost entirely produced using free, open-source software. I believe that open-source software will be the force of the future and the fact that a book of this quality can be produced using OSS is proof that the free software movement is coming of age.

Dan Bartmann and Dan Fink have done a magnificent job in the writing and production of Homebrew Wind Power. They’ve created a book, written with a vast amount of knowledge and experience in the subject, loaded it with photographs that clearly show the processes involved and enabled any wind energy amateur to successfully build his or her first wind turbine and enjoy the rewards of living off-grid. The writing style vividly demonstrates that The Two Dans enjoy what they do and while they take the subject of wind energy very seriously, they never take themselves too seriously. They have fun building wind turbines and it shows in the book.

Do I have any grumbles about the book? Just one. I live on a 70′ X 100′ lot in the city and I don’t have room to fly one of these turbines even if I built one. I’d need a tower bigger than the lot to get above the trees. So, here’s a book that’s got me all fired up to build a wind turbine and I’ve got no place to fly it. What a book! I heartily recommend it.

By the way, you’ll love the “Dog Haiku”.

The Homeowner’s Handbook to Energy Efficiency: A Guide to Big and Small Improvements

In The Homeowner’s Guide to Energy Efficiency, John Krigger and Chris Dorsi help homeowners set realistic personal goals for reducing their energy consumption. Their methods for making homes more energy efficient will also improve comfort, safety, durability, and resale value. They guide readers through the process of assessing current energy usage and predicting the benefits and estimating the costs of remodeling options. With projects ranging from simple fixes to large-scale renovations, this book offers solutions for the energy-conscious homeowner, regardless of budget, technical ability, or time.

A. T. Sterner says:

I am an energy auditor and I spend much time educating people about energy efficiency, conservation, products, building science, and more. This book is a life and time saver! Since it became available, I’ve been able to point folks to it and have saved myself lots of time. The book is very easy to understand, very thorough, with good graphics. Everyone who owns a home should have this book. And, everyone who is wanting to reduce their energy use and carbon footprint, AND fix their home should have this book.

About the Author
John Krigger is a highly respected authority in the field of energy conservation for buildings and the author of several books. He has been a passionate advocate of efficient construction technology for over thirty years. He is now working with other building scientists to develop the next generation of construction techniques for North America. Chris Dorsi has spent the last thirty years fine-tuning homes across North America. He has founded construction companies, developed real estate projects, and audited thousands of residential buildings. He is a widely acclaimed author and speaker who has motivated and enabled both homeowners and trade professionals to improve the efficiency and minimize the environmental footprint of their buildings.

BE PREPARED
BE SAFE

Pocket Guide: 101 Easy Things You Can Do to Ready Your Home for a Disaster

From California earthquakes and Rocky Mountain wildfires to Midwest floods and Atlantic hurricanes, you can’t escape that inevitable day when catastrophe strikes your home town — but you can be prepared! Offering a simple DIY approach, this book breaks down the vital steps you should take into 101 quick, smart and inexpensive projects:

#6 Make a Master List of Passwords

#16 Calculate How Much Water You Need

#33 Start a Food Storage Plan for $5 a Week

#60 Make a Safe from a Hollowed-out Book

#77 Assemble an Inexpensive First Aid kit

#89 Learn to Cook Without Electricity

#94 Pack a Bug-out Bag

About the Author
Bernie Carr has had extensive experience with surviving natural disasters and keeping her family safe. She writes The Apartment Prepper’s Blog and resides in Houston, TX with her family.

Leslie Hock says:

I am not usually a fan of the ‘dummy’s guide to….’ or ’101 easy steps to…’ kind of book. This excellent little handbook is a rare exception. Well written and broken down into logical subject headings it is a great checklist for the seasoned prepper to see if their preps are as complete as they think. Have you really checked to see if you have everything needed to cook that food you stored? Really? Going through the food section will help double check what you have.

For the beginner who is overwhelmed by the idea that they have to go out and get a year’s supply of food at $1300 per person this little book is the answer. Simply put, don’t waste your money. The guide leads through easy stages to find what you need, where to get it, and how to store it. No huge outlays – you can successfully prep on $5 a week and this guide shows you how.

In each major area, the book takes you through the essentials and shows you what you need and how to get it. There is no attempt to sell you on this gizmo or that food supplier. It is a simple straightforward look at those things that one needs should the support structure that we have grown accustom to disappear.

Arduino Projects to Save the World shows that it takes little more than a few tools, a few wires and sensors, an Arduino board, and a bit of gumption to build devices that lower energy bills, help you grow our own food, monitor pollution in the air and in the ground, even warn you about earth tremors.

Arduino Projects to Save the World introduces the types of sensors needed to collect environmental data—from temperature sensors to motion sensors. You’ll see projects that deal with energy sources—from building your own power strip to running your Arduino board on solar panels so you can actually proceed to build systems that help, for example, to lower your energy bills. Once you have some data, it’s time to put it to good use by publishing it online as you collect it; this book shows you how.

The core of this book deals with the Arduino projects themselves:

Account for heat loss using a heat loss temperature sensor array that sends probes into every corner of your house for maximum measurement.
Monitor local seismic activity with your own seismic monitor.
Keep your Arduino devices alive in the field with a solar powered device that uses a smart, power-saving design.
Monitor your data and devices with a wireless radio device; place your sensors where you like without worrying about wires.
Keep an eye on your power consumption with a sophisticated power monitor that records its data wherever you like.

Arduino Projects to Save the World teaches the aspiring green systems expert to build environmentally-sound, home-based Arduino devices. Saving the world, one Arduino at a time.
What you’ll learn

Help the environment by using Arduino
Install and use environmental sensors
Use low-energy or solar energy sources for your Arduino board to avoid loading conventional energy grids
Build an Arduino-based seismic monitor to protect your home
Measure energy flows inside your home using temperature sensor arrays
Pull together your environmental data in an energy consumption monitor

Who this book is for

Programmers excited by Arduino
Arduino users looking for green projects

Learn more about the Arduino Microcontroller at http://arduinotronics.blogspot.com/