Inside:
• The Global Energy Picture • Seeing Energy • Electricity versus Heat • Sources and Impacts of Energy • Calculating Energy Use • Saving Energy • Overview of Renewable Energy. • Forwarded by Dr. Colin Campbell, Centre for Oil Depletion Analysis, London; "It is stressed that we are not about to run out of oil, but production is about to peak. In the post-peak world, emphasis will have to shift to conservation and using what is left as efficiently as possible. Our wasteful ways of the past have to end by the adoption of the measures explained in this book."

"This is an excellent and much needed book ... very comprehensible and well written." -- Dr. Colin Campbell (The Coming Oil Crisis).   "A fresh look ... that shows energy is not that difficult to understand." -- Richard Perez (Editor, Home Power Magazine).

In conversation over current energy events, whether the topic is efficiency, conservation, solar or other renewable energy sources, there is a distance between the conversation that people want to have versus the one they are prepared to have. The lack of a basic understanding of energy -- including its sources, costs, and the many ways to think about efficiency -- makes the desired discussion impossible. This book bridges that gap. Nobody would rent or purchase a home before understanding its financial and legal liabilities; understanding the energy system liabilities should be no different. The home is a long-term committment and so is its energy system.

Cari Spring, Ph.D.

Table of Contents

• Acknowledgements.
• Foreward by Dr. Colin Campbell, Ph.D..
• Introduction: Energywatch - Conservatives and Liberals agree.

• 1. A Global Energy Map
  Flame, The Energy Crunch, Conversion Losses, Geography of the US power grid, Types of power, sources and distribution, National and world energy use, Costs and emissions, Global impacts, Energywatch: Waste.

• 2. Basics: Power and Energy
  2.1 Seeing Energy: Electricity to and in your house, Managing energy, Safety and breakers, Energy flow, electrons and atoms, Power and energy, "Load", Kinds of energy, Kinds of loads, 2.2 From calories to kilowatts: Measuring energy, (Kilo) watts, Kilowatt-hours, DC and AC power, Calculating watts, Volts, Current, Amps, Btu's and therms, Resource costs of 1 kWh of energy, Using the load estimator, Energywatch: Food.

• 3. Residential Energy Evaluation
  3.1 Analyzing your electric and gas bill, Reading the bill: cost, kilowatt-hours and cycles of use, Cost per kilowatt, The story of the graph, Profiling energy use, base and seasonal loads, Your electric bill, Your gas bill, 3.2 Invididual Load Evaluation, Using the load evaluation form, Gas load evaluation, Energywatch: The Kyoto Protocol and You.

• 4. Reduction by 15-15%
  4.1 No- and Low-cost remediation: Conservation, The energy in different loads, Changing behavior, Elimating absolute waste, Recognizing ghost loads, Excess, Alternatives, Reduction through conservation, 4.2 Reduction through efficiency, Lights, Heat, A word about solar energy ratings, Refridgeration and air-conditioning, Heat pumps, The house as a load, Using the right fuel, Energywatch: Lifecycle Analysis.

• 5. Where to go from here
  Alternative fuel sources, Passive and active systems, On-grid or off, AC/DC revisited, Solar, Wind, Hydropower, Geothermal, Biomass, Hydrogen, Energywatch: Living on renewable energy.

• Appendices
  I. Appliance Load Estimator, II. Load Evaluation Form, III. Load Evaluation Form: Does' Sample, IV. Conservation Options, V. Energy Efficiency Upgrade Options, VI. References and Resources, VII. Glossary, VIII. Graph of Yearly Energy Use.