Customer Reviews

Power from the Sun: A Practical Guide to Solar Electricity

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Great book for anyone novice to expert. I am a retired multi-skilled technician with an extensive background in electronics and electrical fields. I found this book very informative for anyone interested in finding out more on solar panels and/or practicle installations. One can choose to get in great depth or just fundamentals. It is a great book.

I bought this book because I was looking to educate myself about solar water heating. This book does not address hot water heating head-on. Instead, this book focus exclusively on generating electricity. However, I still enjoyed reading the book and because the two topics are so closely related, I was able to learn a great deal and this book really did help me pick a contractor to install a solar hot water system in my home. The book is readable, authoritative, comprehensive where solar PV systems are concerned, and quite helpful. And what a great topic. Hopefully more folks will do as I'm doing and actually save money and help reduce carbon emmissions at the same time.

Great book and breaks down the concepts and math of solar power into digestable bites.

The book seems quite in depth of a primer for understanding solar power systems, but I got the impression (several references to 'installation' in the description) that there would be information on installation. It wasn't only until the very last few pages that it touched on installation and it was a list of questions to ask an installer. Truly sustainable home building should be accessible to DIYers, not just professionals (otherwise, it lacks a certain sense of sustainability in that people are unable to be self-reliant). I'll have to look elsewhere.

Power from the Sun: Achieving Energy Independence offers a fine guide to solar energy and is written for the layperson wishing to install a solar electric system. Homeowners and business owners will appreciate an easy guide to all the solar energy options, from solar site assessment to inverters, batteries, and more. A top pick for any collection catering to homeowners interested in alternative energy sources.

My favorite part about this book is that it is well organized and easy to read. The author doesn't spend any time trying to spin you around on jargon and really writes as a good teacher about just about every aspect of a solar power system. So far, it is the best book that I have found for getting started on understanding solar, and would certainly recommend it to anyone who has no idea where to start on solar, and even those who may, but are looking for another perspective or more detailed information.

My only disappointment was the lack of complete system designs. The concepts are all there, but there aren't many examples of components that the author may have chosen and used. While this would certainly date the book and reduce it's relevance over time due to changes in technology, it would have made it a nearly complete guide to designing a solar power system. I had hoped that it would include more talk about specs of current components, to give a better idea of what kinds of specs one might look for and pair with, when designing a system of various sizes. While this may be unrealistic, I bet there are readers out there who might enter this book with a similar expectation.

Overall, this book provided a great jump start into solar power. I would recommend it to anyone who thinks they may be interested in solar (whether DIY or professional installers), because it lays out the entire framework for a basic understanding of the components of a solar power system, without getting deeply into the jargon. If you're looking for jargon, you may find that it will take some additional research. So far, this is the best resource I have found.

This is a great book to get you started on solar power. Starts with the basics and takes you through the installation of the three types of systems. Very good information that is real world and very up to date.

I bought this for my son who is using it as a reference book. He's very happy with the information in it.

This book was purchased as a gift, was received promptly and in perfect condtion, the recipiient was thrilled to receive it.

well, definitely not what i was looking for. seems to be more of a research paper. information was difficult to decipher. just happened to find some info kind of, oh and by the way. not a diy guide.