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A well-organized, easy-to-understand review of renewable home-heating options that includes everything you need to know about passive and active solar systems, wood and pellet stoves, masonry heaters and air- and ground- source heat pumps.

Today, more than ever before, our society is seeking ways to live more conscientiously. To help bring you the very best inspiration and information about greener, more sustainable lifestyles, MOTHER EARTH NEWS is recommending books to its readers. For more than 30 years, MOTHER EARTH NEWS has been North America’s “Original Guide to Living Wisely,” creating books and magazines for people with a passion for self-reliance and a desire to live in harmony with nature.

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Global warming is for real and getting worse faster than previously expected. This 299-page book provides a clear-eyed view of the current energy situation and points to a sustainable path. Author Greg Pahl examines renewable energy technologies currently available and hones in on strategies that can be adopted by individuals and, especially, communities. Such cooperative initiatives have been common in Europe for years and are beginning to gain a foothold in the U.S. because these medium-scale projects successfully bring people together to create collective energy security for a neighborhood, town, or region while strengthening the local economy.

Each chapter focuses on a different renewable energy sector — solar, wind, water, biomass, liquid biofuels, and geothermal — then reviews their advantages and disadvantages and describes numerous examples of proven local initiatives. The Citizen-Powered Energy Handbook is both an eloquent appeal and a practical handbook for community and regional activists to tackle environmental challenges head-on and take responsibility for energy supplies currently controlled by large, distant utilities and consortiums. This is the book for anyone ready to take meaningful steps toward a more sustainable future.