Reddit mentions of The Passive Solar House: Using Solar Design to Heat and Cool Your Home (Real Goods Independent Living Book)

>"When you are talking about ways to conserve energy and reduce home energy bills there are basically two different ways of doing it--there's conservation and then there's efficiency. Conservation is basically a lifestyle change in which you change your behaviors to reduce your use and save energy. Conservation paired with technological fixes (efficiencies) will save you a lot more than if you just relied on technological efficiencies. As individuals look at reducing their bills, focusing on both conservation and efficiency measures will get you the biggest bang for your buck."

This just makes too much sense. And apparently if you try and go this route, people label you as crazy.

I think I saw it here, a nifty idea for a refrigerator. Here's the link. Oh how I want to do this.

I am studying (on my own) passive solar with a goal of retrofitting this home (or another, if need be). It makes sense and puts your home almost off the grid- and you don't even need solar panels to do it. This sort of thinking is what we need to see more of. The book I am reading at the moment is The Passive Solar House. I checked it out of the library, but am considering making the investment.

Things I've found that do/would help me, here in the southwest:

Solar oven
I use a cardboard box right now to produce yummy meals with no energy costs.

Low end solar panels
These, with an inverter and battery can do a few things for you. A neat site that talks about these is Green Science Power.

My next computer will (hopefully) be one of these. They are supposed to have a laptop coming out. All run on DC, so you can run it right off of a solar panel- and they use very little power.

I have looked into solar hot water heaters and I want one. The government will give a $500 rebate (at least here, for a short time). What I don't understand is why they only give rebates after the fact.

I did have a home energy audit done for $99. I was given 12 CFLs, two small faucet nozzles, one large faucet nozzles and a shower head to lower water usage. The costs of these helped offset the cost of the audit. It gave me a good idea on where to begin.

For those of you in Arizona, see today's paper- these are things you may want to consider in the near future: Arizona regulators approve rules for energy efficiency