21st Century Master Guide to Home Solar Systems: Thermal and Photovoltaic Technologies (Ringbound Book)

Here is your authoritative guide to all aspects of home solar power systems and photovoltaic energy, from the Federal Government. This ringbound book provides a reproduction of an up-to-date Energy Department publication, Building America Best Practices Series High-Performance Home Technologies: Solar Thermal and Photovoltaic Systems. This best-practices document provides an introduction to current photovoltaic and solar thermal building practices. The national commitment to solar technology involves homes that will use at least 50% less utility energy, Zero Energy Homes (ZEH). Contents include: Solar Sells: Closing the Deal * Solar-Thermal Water Heating * Photovoltaic Power Generation * Planning and Orientation * Rack-Mounted Systems * Worker Safety * Solar Ready * Looking Back, Looking Ahead * Case Studies * Marketing solar systems is the subject of a chapter which explains how the leading builders in the country are selling zero energy homes. You will see some of the model homes that display photovoltaic and energy efficiency technology, visit open houses at demonstration homes, and learn other techniques used to turn savings into profits. The next two chapters introduce solar thermal and photovoltaic (PV) technologies. These chapters describe components and how systems fit together. Examples of system installations are used to show best practices for builders and installers. The site planning and orientation chapter describes how to analyze the solar potential for a building site. It provides references to free models that can help with design and economic considerations. This chapter also describes research that shows the wide flexibility available for positioning solar systems. The next chapter discusses roof and rack mounting systems. Chapter 7 describes safety measures and regulations for installers. Chapter 8 briefly describes how to build homes ready for solar technologies. These solar-ready homes are pre-plumbed, pre-wired, and structurally supported to easily add solar technologies after the initial sale. The next chapter looks at the history of solar development and some of the great designs from the Solar Decathlon, and summarizes the thirteen case studies described in the next paragraph. Thirteen case studies are provided at the end of this document. These case studies review building projects of all scales from around the country. The lessons learned apply to building design, materials selection, mounting techniques, and marketing opportunities. Our news and educational titles are privately compiled collections of official public domain U.S. government files and documents - they are not produced by the federal government. They are designed to provide a convenient user-friendly reference work and educational tool.