As oil prices continue to rise, many people are starting to think about how to unhook from the power grid. The Renewable Energy Handbook focuses completely on off-grid, sustainable living and energy independence in a rural setting.

Author William Kemp and his wife designed their own high-efficiency off-grid home in 1991. They worked methodically to produce a home which has all of the standard “middle-class” creature comforts while using six times less heating, cooling, and electrical energy than the average Ontario home. Soon they were inundated with inquiries and decided to put their experience into book form in 2003.

This updated edition focuses specifically on off-grid concerns and contains chapters on:

Energy conservation
Heating and cooling
Photovoltaic, wind and microhydro energy generation
Battery selection, voltage regulation and inverters
Backup power

Twice the page count of the first edition, it also includes enhanced chapters on home and domestic water heating, wireless communications and biofuels. A “Showcase of Homes” chapter provides a tour of various off-grid cottages and homes, and details the type of lifestyle that can be achieved for a given capital cost. The book is augmented with appendices and hundreds of illustrations, line drawings and photographs.

William Kemp is VP Engineering of Powerbase Automation Systems Inc. and a consulting electronics/software designer who develops control systems for low environmental impact hydroelectric utilities worldwide. He is a sustainable living and clean energy advocate working in renewable energy heating, energy efficiency, photovoltaic, microhydro and wind electric systems.

William Kemp is VP Engineering of Powerbase Automation Systems Inc. and a consulting electronics/software designer who develops control systems for low environmental impact hydroelectric utilities worldwide. He is also an author, sustainable living and clean energy advocate working in renewable energy heating, energy efficiency, photovoltaic, micro-hydro and wind electric systems.

Here are some reviews of the product:
1. I own, consult for and sell items related to Solar Power and other forms of Renewable Energy. I read this book and use it as reference when people approach me about using Renewable Energy. It is a great source of knowledge and the author lives what he wrote about, which is refreshing. I recently ordered another 5 copies to pass out when people order a complete system from me, as a guide to other components they might need in their pursuit of Energy Indpendence. Maverick Solar.

2. I’m building a new house and I want to make sure it’s the most energy efficient house I can afford to build, so I got this book to help look at some of the decisions like Solar PV, Solar water heating, Wind and Micro hydroelectric. I have been happy so far, the discussion on insulating so far has been geared toward existing houses but it’s interesting to note that insulating the basement may give you a higher payback than more insulation in the attic.

I didn’t understand what net-metering allows you to do before reading this book, although living in Georgia makes a PV system cost prohibitive since there are no state rebates.

Solar hot water looks very feasible and should have a pretty quick payback.

3. Best single source of information on this subject I’ve seen, as a professional in this field. Though perhaps not enough detail for expert system designers, it nevertheless
covers each item in some depth and explains it on a level that the layperson can not just understand, but maybe enjoy reading. Very good summary of a very large subject.
Excellent. I’ll be giving them out to my customers. Nick
Houser, Off Grid Services.

This entry was posted on Monday, August 18th, 2008 at 4:51 am and is filed under Green living, Green products. Tags: Energy conservation, microhydro energy, sustainable living. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.