Dan Chiras

Our automobile culture is devastating for the environment, but private passenger vehicles are unlikely to disappear from our roads anytime soon. Greener cars and fuels will be a necessity for many years to come.

Green Transportation Basics is a guide to greening your personal driving habits by dramatically improving the efficiency of an existing vehicle using simple measures such as trip planning and regular maintenance to improve fuel economy. This handy guide also explores the most promising new green carsand trucks, including electric vehicles, hybrids, plug-in hybrids, and natural-gas cars. And it critically examines sustainable fuels includingethanol, biodiesel, straight vegetable oil, hydrogen, and biomethane, evaluating each according to a set of established criteria. Each green fuel source must:

• be socially, economically, and environmentally sustainable
• have a high net energy yield
• be clean, abundant, renewable, affordable.

Don't let your dream of greening your transportation idle – Green Transportation Basics will guide you through the myths and misconceptions and provide clear options for the road to a more sustainable future.

From the author of The Homeowner’s Guide to Renewable Energy, an easy guide to solar electricity—everything you need to power your home or small business.

Written for the individual or business layman, this is the fully revised and updated guide for generating solar electricity. Practical and accessible, it provides a basic understanding of electricity, wiring, and solar energy. The book guides the reader through assessing your solar electricity site and determining the type of solar system needed for to generate solar electricity, providing you with a solid understanding of grid-tied and off-grid systems, along with important guidelines on installation.

Power from the Sun, 2nd Edition, discusses types of photovoltaic and photovoltaic solar energy systems, and includes comprehensive information on recent changes and improvements in PV modules, charge controllers, inverters, batteries, generators, and net metering policies. It offers an excellent overview of the many options available as a guide for generating solar electricity, allowing you to make the best choices for your individual situation during the design, installation, and operation of a solar energy system. This is the definitive layman’s guide for homeowners, business owners, installers, architects, and just about anyone interested in generating solar electricity to lower energy bills and achieve greater independence through solar energy.

“Dan Chiras is as reliable as a Swiss watch—once again he’s created a text that’s as accessible as it is informative.”—Ann Edminster, author of Energy Free: Homes for a Small Planet

“Chiras makes it as easy as possible for you to affect your own transition away from fossil fuel dependence.”—Bruce King, PE Director, Ecological Building Network, and author of The New Carbon Architecture

The completely revised and updated guide to solar energy – everything you need to power your home or small business

Written for the individual or business layman, this is the fully revised and updated guide for generating solar electricity. Practical and accessible, it provides a basic understanding of electricity, wiring, and solar energy, and guides the reader through solar electricity site assessment and determining the type of solar system needed for generating solar electricity, providing a solid understanding of grid-tied and off-grid systems, along with important guidelines on installation.

Power from the Sun – 2nd Edition discusses types of photovoltaic and photovoltaic solar energy systems, and includes comprehensive information on recent changes and improvements in PV modules, charge controllers, inverters, batteries, generators, and net metering policies. It offers an excellent overview of the many options available as a guide for generating solar electricity, allowing the reader to make the best choices for their individual situation during the design, installation, and operation of a solar energy system. The definitive layman’s guide for homeowners, business owners, installers, architects, and just about anyone interested in generating solar electricity to lower energy bills and achieve greater independence through solar energy.

Dan Chiras is Director of the Center for Renewable Energy and Green building through which he teaches workshops on solar electricity, wind energy, passive solar design, natural building, and green building. He is also president of Sustainable Systems Design, Inc., a company that installs residential solar electricity and wind energy systems and consults on passive solar design, residential renewable energy, and green building throughout North America. Dan is the author of 32 previous books, including The Homeowner's Guide to Renewable Energy and Power from the Wind .

Skyrocketing energy costs and constant reminders of the impacts of conventional energy sources are making homeowners and businesses look at different ways to use energy more efficiently and to generate their own electricity to reduce fuel bills and their carbon footprint.

Power From the Wind is the completely revised and updated edition of the go-to guide for individuals and businesses interested in installing small wind energy systems. Written for the layperson, this practical guide provides an accurate and unbiased view of all aspects of small wind energy systems, including:

• Wind and wind energy system options
• Ways to assess wind resources at your site
• Wind turbines and towers
• Inverters and batteries
• Installation and maintenance of systems
• Costs and benefits of installing a wind system.

Readers will gain the knowledge they need to make wise decisions during the design, purchase, and installation of small wind energy systems and to communicate effectively with wind system installers, and will be empowered to help make the smartest, most economical choices.

Skyrocketing energy costs and constant reminders of the impacts of conventional energy sources are making homeowners and businesses look at different ways to use energy more efficiently and to generate their own electricity to reduce fuel bills and their carbon footprint.

Power From the Wind is the completely revised and updated edition of the go-to guide for individuals and businesses interested in installing small wind energy systems. Written for the layperson, this practical guide provides an accurate and unbiased view of all aspects of small wind energy systems, including:

• Wind and wind energy system options
• Ways to assess wind resources at your site
• Wind turbines and towers
• Inverters and batteries
• Installation and maintenance of systems
• Costs and benefits of installing a wind system.

Readers will gain the knowledge they need to make wise decisions during the design, purchase, and installation of small wind energy systems and to communicate effectively with wind system installers, and will be empowered to help make the smartest, most economical choices.

A guide to choosing and using solar electricity systems from “the man who launched a thousand rooftop solar arrays . . . the essential go-to manual” (John D. Ivanko and Lisa Kivirist, coauthors of ECOpreneuring).

As we look for safer, more economical, and more sustainable ways to meet our needs for electricity—and as more and more electric cars hit the road—solar has become an increasingly popular option. With Solar Electricity Basics, renewable energy expert Dan Chiras offers a concise and up-to-date guide covering all the essentials. It explores:

• How to size, cost, and choose the right system, including off-grid vs. grid-tied vs. grid-tied with battery backup
• Where to mount a system for maximum performance
• What type of modules and inverters to buy
• How to install and maintain batteries
• Cost vs. benefit for solar electric systems
• How to connect to the grid, and what type of net metering your area offers

Solar Electricity Basics is an indispensable guide for homeowners, business owners, builders, and students for figuring out solar electricity quickly and easily.

The indispensable guide to solar electricity systems for homeowners, business owners, builders, and students

Climate change and limits to fossil fuels compel us to find safer, more economical, and more sustainable ways to meet our needs for electricity. And, as more and more electric cars hit the road, we'll need to find a way to provide fuel that is clean, environmentally sustainable, and affordable.

With Solar Electricity Basics, author Dan Chiras offers a concise and up-to-date guide covering all the essentials. It explores:

• How to size, cost, and choose the right system, including off-grid vs. grid-tied vs grid-tied with battery backup
• Where to mount a system for maximum performance
• What type of modules and inverters to buy
• How to install and maintain batteries
• Cost vs benefit for solar electric systems
• How to connect to the grid, and what type of net metering your area offers.

Solar Electricity Basics is an indispensable guide for homeowners, business owners, builders, and students for figuring out solar electricity quickly and easily.

Grow vegetables year-round in a greenhouse powered only by solar energy

Originally developed in China to feed millions, Chinese greenhouses are earth-sheltered, solar-heated, east-west oriented, intelligently glazed, and well-insulated. They have proven highly effective in growing warm-weather vegetables and fruits like green peppers and tomatoes in cold climates through fall, winter, and early spring using passive solar energy as the sole heat source.

The Chinese Greenhouse is a full-color comprehensive guide to these passive solar greenhouses for self-sufficiency and growing year-round in soil or aquaponic grow beds with no additional heat. Coverage includes:

• How to design, build, and operate a Chinese greenhouse
• How to improve performance via short-term and long-term heat banking
• How to provide additional heat to make your greenhouse operate even more effectively
• How to cool the greenhouse during the summer.

Become a more self-sufficient gardener, growing and harvesting a variety of fresh fruits and vegetables year-round, with your own Chinese greenhouse.