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Review of Eco House Manual
A review of the Eco-House Handbook by Nigel Griffiths (Haynes manual)
The Eco-House Manual by Nigel Griffiths is a guide to carrying out "environmentally friendly improvements to your home". It is published by Haynes (1) - better known for their ever popular guides to vehicle maintainance. The author Nigel Griffiths is an eco-building and conservation writer and specialist in the sustainable renovation of older property.
Eco-House Manual is split into the following ten chapters:
1. Principles of eco-renovation.
2. Construction materials.
3. Reducing heat loss.
4. Heating.
5. Electricity Demand.
6. Micro-generation.
7. Water.
8. Interiors.
9. Waste and pollution.
10. Exterior space and gardens.
Although the book is generally useful and of interest for anyone interested in improving or renovating their home in an environmentally friendly manner, the chapters of most relevance to REUK.co.uk site visitors are Heating - which details solar water heaters (2), heat pumps (3), and passive solar design (4); Micro-generation - which covers PV solar panels (5), micro wind turbines (6), and other technologies; and Water - which covers rainwater harvesting (7) and water conservation (8). The chapter which covers Electricity Demand also has a lot of useful information on energy efficient artificial lighting (9) and on light tubes (10) (used to bring natural light into windowless and other dark rooms).
Overall this book is very well written, comprehensive, detailed, and easy to understand. There are very many colour photographs (which are not always very useful) and also some excellent colour schematic diagrams and system plans (which illustrate concepts very clearly). The two-page illustrated guide to Installing a Tubular Daylight System (light tube / sun pipe) for example is excellent.
This book was first published in mid-2007 and some items are now a little dated - particularly the information on the grants which are available to people installing alternative energy systems. The book contains a lot of phone numbers and web addresses which are likely to slowly become obsolete over the coming years - however, at the time of writing (March 2009) the vast majority of the information remains valid. The technologies covered remain up-to-date - primarily because the newer technologies discussed (such as micro wind turbines) are not covered in very deep detail anyway.
This book is recommended reading for anyone interested in improving their home in an eco-friendly manner.
Buy Eco-House Manual
Eco-House Manual is sold at an RRP of £19.99, but is available for less that online and also on special offer in major bookshops from time to time. The ISBN of this 168 page book is 978-1-84425-405-7. Click here to buy Eco-House Handbook (11) now from Amazon UK (typically for below £14).Other Reading
If you are interested in Eco-House Manual then you will also be interested in reading our review of Converting to an Eco-Friendly Home (12).Web Link References
(1) http://www.haynes.co.uk(2) http://www.reuk.co.uk/Evacuated-Tube-Solar-Water-Heating.htm
(3) http://www.reuk.co.uk/Directory/ground-source-heat-pumps.htm
(4) http://www.reuk.co.uk/Passivhaus-Super-Efficient-Home.htm
(5) http://www.reuk.co.uk/How-Do-PV-Solar-Panels-Work.htm
(6) http://www.reuk.co.uk/Micro-Wind-Turbines.htm
(7) http://www.reuk.co.uk/Collect-Rainwater.htm
(8) http://www.reuk.co.uk/10-Ways-to-Save-Water.htm
(9) http://www.reuk.co.uk/LED-Spotlights.htm
(10) http://www.reuk.co.uk/Light-Tubes-for-Interior-Lighting.htm
(11) http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/1844254054/theowlnet-21
(12) http://www.reuk.co.uk/Review-of-Converting-to-an-Eco-Friendly-Home.htm
Article from REUK.co.uk:
http://www.reuk.co.uk/Review-of-Eco-House-Manual.htm
Published: 14th March 2009
© REUK 2009