The New Independent Home: People and Houses That Harvest the Sun, Wind , and Water

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Potts's original book has become one of our best sellers and flagship of the series of popular Solar Living Books we have produced in conjunction with Real Goods Trading Company. Because of its impact in bringing the almost unknown promise of solar energy to thousands of readers, one longtime observer of energy trends described the publication of the original Independent Home as "the most important event in the solar industry in more than a decade".

SYNOPSIS

Potts's original book has become one of our best sellers and flagship of the series of popular Solar Living Books we have produced in conjunction with Real Goods Trading Company. Because of its impact in bringing the almost unknown promise of solar energy to thousands of readers, one longtime observer of energy trends described the publication of the original Independent Home as "the most important event in the solar industry in more than a decade."

The book's publication coincided with a National Tour of Independent Homes. When more than 10,000 people attended this one-day event, it became suddenly clear that the promise of living in homes powered by sunlight, winds, and falling water had caught the imagination of far more Americans than expected.

In this newly revised and expanded edition, Potts again profiles the solar homesteaders whose experiments and innovations have opened the possibility of solar living for tens of thousands of others.

Potts provides clear and highly entertaining explanations of how various renewable energy systems work, and why they make more sense than ever, today. He is a brilliant guide to the stages of planning and design faced by everyone who seeks to create a home that reconciles the personal and global dimensions of ecology.

Over the past five years the focus of an "independent" home has evolved beyond the energy system to encompass the whole process of planning a renovation or construction of a new home. Independent homes are homes with integrity and personality. Beautiful homes are now being built with age-old materials such as straw bales and rammed earth combined with state-of-the-art electronic technologies for harvesting free energy from the surrounding environment. Potts writes with complete lucidity about a group of homeowners some would consider to be the lunatic fringe and others would regard as among the only sane people on the planet. This is an important trend that we expect will continue to surprise and delight us as we move gradually toward the dawn of the inevitable Solar Age

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Michael Potts is a free-lance writer, networker, computer applications designer and Director of the Caspar Institute in northern California. He and his family have been building their own innovative, low-impact home using renewable energy for twenty years and learning about independent living along the way.

WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING

"... here is a book of true stories about real people who have taken the environmental high road. Potts's pioneers strike a high, clear chord... (John Connell, architect, cofounder of the Yestermorrow Design/Build School, and author of Homing Instinct) — John Connell

These are the people who actually do the things most of us only talk about, and we'll have far less fear of failure if we let their experiences show us the way. (Malcolm Wells, architect and author of The Earth Sheltered House) — Malcolm Wells

written by a visionary with dirt under his fingernails. If you want to seriously pursue self-reliance, you must read this book. (Denis Hayes, chair of Earth Day 2000) — Denis Hayes