Plenty of ideas to prepare yourself for the crunch
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Following the disruption of oil supplies in the 1970s a number of people foresaw a future with rising energy prices and elected a lifestyle which would make them as energy independent as possible. It was a time when systems such as photovoltaics were available but expensive so independence came at a relatively high price. Moreover, the world has continued to use cheap oil so the rest of us have been able to enjoy the benefits of our conventional life style and it might seem that these independents overreacted. Today the situation is different. World demand for oil continues to increase each year but even with the benefits of modern technology, there have been few recent discoveries of significance. There is very little spare capacity in the system today as there was in the 1970s. The lines of supply and demand will soon cross and then the price of oil will inevitably rise. The wise ones among us will prepare now for the future that we all knew would come and it seems to me that there are three broad options: to create an independent home out in the boondocks; to build a low energy home where the power grid is available; or to modify our existing residence to lower fuels costs. I am not one of those who seeks independence from the world by locating far from conventional power sources as I have three young children and I want to enjoy the benefits that our society has to offer. However, I am about to build my house on an acre of land and want to prepare myself for the different future that will be imposed on us all. So did I find this book helpful as person electing option #2? Yes, indeed. I am trying to be sensible and down-to-earth by implementing today what is cost-effective. First of all, this means reducing my energy demand and the pioneers in this book are experts in this respect. I have found that I can do many small things which are little more than common sense and do not ask me to change my life style in any radical way. I consider it prudent to make provision to install tomorrow - whenever that might be - other systems as they become cost effective. Thus by making sure that my energy demand is as low as possible immediately and then adding on alternative energy systems in due course, I might ultimately become almost independent of outside energy supplies. I found reading the stories of more than 25 individuals or families who have created independent homes very helpful. They are all highly intelligent people who were, could have been or are successful in the conventional world but have elected an alternative. They have blazed the trail and I have been able to pick and choose those elements which will benefit me. Their stories provide snippets of success and failure, of pleasure and hardship of the new life style they decided to adopt. There is much that I have learned that will make my lifestyle better and cheaper and I am grateful for that. Michael Potts provides the nuts and bolts of building a successful alternative energy system interspersed between the stories. He took his home off the grid little by little over the years so he has practiced what I feel is the most sensible approach for me. If you have decided that the time is right to move from the city and adopt option #1 by creating an independent home, this is an excellent book which will help you make your transition a success and avoid the many pitfalls that await you. Even though the book was written in 1993 the lessons are still as relevant as ever. The major change is that the equipment you will need has probably fallen in price, is more reliable and there are more people qualified to advise, sell and service it. In fact you may well find that you are making your move at the most cost-effective time in historical terms. You will probably get more for your money today than you would have got yesterday or you will get tomorrow when the price of oil rises. Few of us have the opportunity to build a new home away from the city. In fact it may not be desirable as in total energy terms living in a city can be more economical, taking into account commuting to work and running the children around. So this book is also helpful to those who want to stay where they are and adopt option #3. There are certain things that we can all do immediately to cut our energy consumption, tread more lightly on the earth and perhaps even improve our life style. If you measure the value of a book by how quickly you recoup its costs through the savings that you make, you are likely to find this to be a very cost-effective investment. Perhaps you are one of those people who believe that we will be able to continue to enjoy our current lifestyle for a few more decades. You would have been right three decades ago. The difference is that the oil clock is close to midnight now and it is time to focus on preparing for a new life style using less energy. My advice to you is to read this book and pick out a few of the ideas that might be useful. You will almost certainly save yourself money and, surprisingly, you may even make changes to improve your lifestyle. At the very least you will have the right book on hand to refer to when the crunch comes.
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Poorly written feel-good stories of independent living
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As an editor and writer, to me this book is awful. The title is misleading: it provides no idea that this is simply a collection of feel-good stories from people who have succeeded in living independently. For the person wanting to start to live independently, this is NOT the book. Except by accidental gleanings from the stories, there is no comparison of technologies, no systematic analysis of how to go about it. The incomplete and inadequate descriptions of technologies are poorly placed and you wonder why they were placed where they were at all; the applied information could be culled into ten pages or less. There is also a nauseating rash of redneck chest-thumping about why America is so great and why it is losing the "race" to go green, presented in the very way that provides an implicit answer: America is great because it is full of greedy, competitive, small-minded, insular, arrogant people built to exploit the country's natural resources - the very ones that (most of) these people - including me - would like to get away from. This is off-set by some (again, accidental) very brief and quiet mention of the usefulness of non-American technologies. I expected more from this book, especially given the reviews it has received already. Much like the authors approach to his own building, the book may be euphemistically called 'organic'; otherwise, it may be called just wasteful, inefficient, and poorly focused.
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This was a disapointment.
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I was looking for a book on technical data for energy independent sytems, how they hooked up to your house, how it interacted with the existing power company system etc. This book has more opinion in it than information. I only read the first three chapters so far but the construction of all the chapters seem to be the same. It starts out with someone's story where they put down the power companies and insert a lot of "save the Earth" jargon. Most of the chapters consist of this type of rhetoric and at the very end of the chapter there is some useful information about a certain system, PV,wind, etc. I was also disappointed to find out that this book was copyrighted in 1993. The field of PV has taken leaps and bounds since this book was published. There is some useful information in this book but in my opinion, it could have been condensed into a short concise booklet of about 45 pages.
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Enjoyable and informative book
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I found Living Well to be a pleasure to read, and as the author Michael Potts stated above, helpful even for "on-the-gridders" in reducing their energy consumption and bills. I am currently planning on building an on-the-grid house (a house that depends on the local power company for its power), but found the book very helpful in our designing for energy efficiency. The book also bolstered my confidence in doing some things with the house that are unusual for our area. I look at homemade energy now with a new hope and enthusiasm and would recommend this book to anyone. Who knows? I might try a photovoltaic cell or two as a result....
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Required reading for all homosapiens!
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Because of my total infatuation with the first book (I'm assuming,
first) I would get the next without question. Occasionally, this is a
mistake, but I don't think it will be a disappointment. Please quote
anything from me regarding how great I think this work is.
I find the book an escape on the line of the old, big Sears catalogs
that we called the "wish book" when I was a kid. An often somewhat dry
subject spiced with real people living the "life." I have read and
re-read it many times.
I hope for for a sequel that dipicts the continuing state of the art and
the folks he interviewd 5 years later.
A style with the technical interspersed with the personalities is
very refreshing. It's like learning while reading People Magazine. I
felt myself wanting to read more about the people and their feelings.
Where Potts injected his opinions, this made me want to read more of
what he thought about the life styles and conditions he visited. His
opinions about the building departments and reglatory agencies were right
on! I wanted to go storm the local building Department with his book in hand as
ammunition.
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