Heating, Ventilation & Air Conditioning

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)

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.

The Green House: New Directions in Sustainable Architecture

From the arid deserts of Tucson, Arizona to the icy forests of Poori, Finland to the tropical beaches of New South Wales, Australia to the urban jungle of downtown Manhattan, critics Alanna Stang and Christopher Hawthorne have traveled to the farthest reaches of the globe to find all that is new in the design of sustainable, or "green," homes. The result: more than thirty-five residences in fifteen countries -- and nearly every conceivable natural environment -- designed by a combination of star architects and heretofore unknown practitioners.
Six different climactic zones are presented in The Green House -- waterfront, forest and mountain, tropical, desert, suburban, and urban; there is also a section on mobile dwellings. Each chapter features a series of homes that show the diversity and possibility of sustainable design. Projects are presented with large color images, plans, drawings, and an accompanying text that describes their green features and explains how they work with and in the environment.
Architects included: Santiago Calatrava, Shigeru Ban, Miller/Hull, Rick Joy, Lake Flato, Kengo Kuma, Glenn Murcutt, Pugh & Scarpa, Werner Sobek, and many others.
The Green House is not only a beautiful object in its own right, but is sure to be an indispensable reference for anyone building or interested in sustainable design -- and if you ask us, that should be everyone.

Passive Solar House: The Complete Guide to Heating and Cooling Your Home

For the past ten years The Passive Solar House has offered proven techniques for building homes that heat and cool themselves, using readily available materials and methods familiar to all building contractors and many do-it-yourself homeowners. True to this innovative, straightforward approach, the new edition of this best-selling guide includes CSOL passive solar design software, making it easier than ever to heat your home with the power of the sun. Since The Passive Solar House was first published, passive solar construction expert James Kachadorian has perfected user-friendly, PC-compatible software to supplement the design process explained in the book by allowing homeowners/designers to enter the specifications of their design and see how changing a variable will affect its energy efficiency. This is the building book for a world of climbing energy costs. Applicable to diverse regions, climates, budgets, and styles of architecture, KachadorianÂ’s techniques translate the essentials of timeless solar design into practical wisdom for todayÂ’s solar builders. Profiles of successful passive solar design, construction, and retrofit projects from readers of the first edition provide inspiration to first-time homebuilders and renovators alike.

Pipefitters Handbook

• Provides answers to all sorts of problems indigenous to power and industrial pipebending, and the fabrication of welding fittings in both shop and field.
• Logically categorizes all material according to job description, supporting each working table with a clear example of how to use it.
• Includes a special reference section that gives instant data on the 24 most useful on-the-job subjects, such as spark tests for metals, sheet metal weights, valve types, weights and measures, and many more.
• Discusses all types of bends; elbows, tees, and crosses; plastic pipe; soldering and brazing; travel and run; fitting dimensions; threading pipe; relative physical properties; and more.

The Easy Guide to Solar Electric Part II, Installation Manual

The author's second book is a hands-on book on how to install a solar electrical system. It covers, every aspect of a solar installation in great detail, including: electrical theory with emphasis on DC wiring, system design, electrical code, as well as components of a solar system down to quirks, nuts, and bolts. In its humorous language the book also looks at alternative energy politics, policies, and the industry through a critical eye.

Fire Places: A Practical Design Guide to Fireplaces and Stoves Indoors and Out

What more appealing scene can you conjure up on a wintry day than a pair of comfortable armchairs pulled up to a crackling fire while wisps of smoke curl from the chimney top? All your senses are in use--the sight of the flickering flames, the sound of the crackling logs, the warmth on your face, and the fragrance and taste of wood smoke. The hearth truly is the essential core of every home, whether it is an actual fireplace or merely a mantel displaying the treasures and trophies of intertwined lives. Long past the days of strictly utilitarian purpose, fireplaces and stoves are a design feature in their own right. They are available in an array of styles, sizes, and colors; offer a variety of fuel choices; and feature benefits beyond mere aesthetics, including heat and cooking. Fireplaces and heat sources are also widely found in many rooms throughout the house, including the family or living room, bedroom, kitchen, and bathroom, as well as outdoors. And the latest innovations in fireplace and stove technologies make having one no longer an expensive proposition.

While the building market is seeing growth in the fireplace market, so too is the remodeling marketplace. In fact, many homeowners are refacing their existing fireplace, upgrading their wood fireplace to gas, or simply installing a new faux fireplace where there wasn't one before. In this book readers will find hundreds of examples of all types of indoor fireplaces--from wood to gas, freestanding, and ventless--and stoves, both wood and pellet. In addition to gorgeous photos of a full range of fireplace styles, materials, and décor for indoor and outdoor fireplaces and stoves, solid information on practical design considerations--maintaining a fireplace or stove, remodeling an existing fireplace, safety, converting a wood-burning fireplace to gas, and the like--are explained in detail, making this the only book on the market to offer the breadth of content on both the design and practical components of all types of the latest indoor and outdoor fireplaces and stoves. Aesthetic and practical design considerations for hearths and mantels, built-ins and storage, lighting, and accessories like screen, brooms, and bellows are also covered. A thorough glossary, resources, and index provide reference-like information.

Power with Nature Second Edition: Alternative Energy Solutions for Homeowners Updated

Be your own power company and let Mother Nature provide the energy! By investing in affordable, new technologies, you can join the thousands of homeowners who get free electricity from the sun, wind and water. In this updated 2nd edition of Power With Nature, you'll learn how easy it is to use renewable energy to become self-sufficient and live well anywhere! - Off-Grid Solar PV, Wind & Micro-Hydro Systems
- Homeowner Profiles (Personal Power Companies)
- Utility Grid-Tie Options
- Sizing Your Renewable Energy System
- Charge Controllers, Inverters, Batteries
- Putting It All Together Safely
- Heating of House and Water
- Pumping Water
- Worksheets, Maps, Resources, Glossary, Index and much more!

Industrial Refrigeration Handbook

Drawing from the best of the widely dispersed literature in the field and the authorÕs vast professional knowledge and experience, here is todayÕs most exhaustive, one-stop coverage of the fundamentals, design, installation, and operation of industrial refrigeration systems. Detailing the industry changes caused by the conversion from CFCs to non-ozone-depleting refrigerants and by the development of microprocessors and new secondary coolants, Industrial Refrigeration Handbook also examines multistage systems; compressors, evaporators, and condensers; piping, vessels, valves and refrigerant controls; liquid recirculation; refrigeration load calculations; refrigeration and freezing of food; and safety procedures. Offering a rare compilation of thermodynamic data on the most-used industrial refrigerants, the Handbook is a mother lode of vital information and guidance for every practitioner in the field.

Welding: Principles and Applications, Fifth Edition

Features more tight shots of actual welds to speed beginners to an understanding of a variety of different welding processes used today. Moving quickly from basic concepts to the study of today's most complex welding technologies, each section begins by introducing readers to the materials, equipment, setup procedures, and critical safety information they need to know to successfully execute a specific process. Chapters also zero in on individual welding tasks and must-know techniques for a comprehensive approach.

Air Conditioning Principles and Systems: An Energy Approach (4th Edition)