The New Independent Home      by Michael Potts Table of Contents

	Introduction
Chapter 1	Declaring Independence
	The Dependent Home
	Rediscovering the land: O'Malley Stoumen's story
	Looked Like Movement to Me
	Reinventing the Cave
	Sticker Shock and Whole Cost
	Thrifty technology: Fred Rassman's story
	The Hidden Costs of Electricity
Chapter 2	Homework : Outgrowing Dependence
	Cost-Effective Home Energy Systems
	Retrofitting: Steven Strong's story
	Heating and Cooling Space
	People Cookers
	sidebar: The Case of the Overheated Attic
	An American Fetish: Hoarding Hot Water
	sidebar: refrigerator cowboys
	The Outrageous Cost of Refrigeration
	sidebar: The Great American Refrigerator Challenge
	sidebar: But where's the Stick? Refrigerator Breakeven
	Proudly standing alone: Catherine, Eva, and Lilia's story
	What Part of OFF don't you Understand?
	The road to town: Noel Perrin's story
	1999 Update from Noel
	A Cleaner Obsession
	sidebar: Describing Electricity
Chapter 3	Harvesting Power
	Harvesting Sunshine: Photovoltaic Cells
	Evolving Modules
	sidebar: Are PVs toxic?
	As Simple As Possible: David Katz's story
	sidebar: We Need Implementation, not a Break-through
	Generators: Turning Spin Into Flow
	Wind energy: Paul Gipe's story
	1999 update from Paul
	Falling Water: The Best Source
	Hybrid Systems: Multiple Energy Sources
	Power's Dark Underbelly
Chapter 4	Maintaining Home Utilities
	sidebar: Home Energy System Overview
	Planning domestic power: Felicia and Charlie Cowden's story
	sidebar: The Heart of a Power Thief
	Back to the grid: 1999 update from Charlie and Felicia
	Storing Energy
	Balancing the Battery Bank
	Mush, You Batteries! Regular Battery Maintenance
	Taking Good Care of the Team
	Things That Spin, Wear
	sidebar: Safety and Balance of System Equipment
	Built to be Serviced
	sidebar: No Load is a Good Load
	sidebar: Mission Critical Power
	More Power To Us
Chapter 5	Comprehending Energy
	Voluntary simplicity: Lennie Kaumzha's story
	Interdependence
	Homestead energy : Steven's and Christiane's story
	Mapping Home Energy
	Urban Energy Treasures: Berta Nelson's story
	Reckoning Home Energy
	Getting Specific
Chapter 6	Choosing a Site for Energy
	Declaring Freedom
	Freedom While Building
	Freedom to Live
	Freedom to Last and Restore
	Building in our Minds
	Defining the Program
	The Right Site
	sidebar: Evaluating Comparables
	Real Estate Traps
	The Site Rose
	Regional Design
	Improving the land: David Palumbo's story
	Meeting Our New Neighbors
	What the Woodrat Recommends
	Original Dwellings
	The Laws of Physics: Laws We Can Live With
Chapter 7	Design for Independence
	Recovering from an Edifice Complex
	Right Ingredients
	Comings and Goings
	sidebar: An Engineer's Way to Put a Hole in a House
	Putting the Car Before the House
	Window Framings
	Before You Build: Wes and Linda's Advice
Chapter 8	Building the Home Energy Machine
	Paying for Too Much Climate Control
	Mass and Glass
	Pounding tires: Ken Anderson's story
	1999 update from Ken Anderson
	Simple, Passive, and Massive
	sidebar: Heating with the Floor
	Chernobylization
	High Ceilings, High Heating Bill"
	Doors Indoors?
	Insulation Is Everything
	Building in Harmony with Sources
	Renewable Energy Gotcha!s
	Planning for Maintenance and Change
	The Light of Experience
	sidebar: Mobile Homes
Chapter 9	Pioneering and Settling the New Energy Frontier
	Stepwise Refinement
	Evolving Standards
	sidebar: Fuel Cells: Why I Am Unimpressed
	Beyond Experiment: Low-maintenance Systems
	The second generation: Lafayette Young's story
	1999 Update from Laf
	sidebar: Laf Young on gas refrigerators
	Integrated Response
Chapter 10	Home Entropy -- Improvements and Repairs
	Spreading the news: Richard Gottlieb and Carol Levin's story
	1998 update from Richard and Carol
	Thinking Like an Island
	Understanding Failure: Darkness or Dimming?
	Optimizing Performance
	sidebar: Hedging with Windows and Wire
	Never Finished: Enlarging on the Theme
	Homogenize or Customize?
	Building into the Future
	sidebar: The Brazil effect
Chapter 11	Growing with the Land
	Twenty thousand trees: Frank Dolan's story
	Fitting the Landscape
	Ark Maui: Wittt Billlman's story
	Slash and Burn Gardening
	Beneath the Trees
	Getting Above Mud
	The Kitchen Garden
	Growing Energy: Renewable Fuel
	The Garden Within
Chapter 12	Generalists & Specialists
	For land and family: Wes and Linda Edwards's story
	The Information Grid
	Work-at-Homers
	Phone It In
	Wild west: Wayne and Debbie Robertson's story
	Garbage
	The Unburn Pile
	The Pendulum Returns
Chapter 13	Solar Neighborhoods
	Cultural landscape: Arnie and Maria Valdez's story
	1999 update from Arnie and Maria
	Bonding with the Land
	Land for the cost of a car: Nancy Hensley's story
	1999 update from Nancy
	Independent Children
	Make friends with what you need: Michael Reynolds's story
	1999 update from Mike Reynolds
	Caveat emptor: J. P. Townsend's story
	Ecotarian Guidelines
	Natural communities
Chapter 14	Living with Constant Change
	Solar Cycles
	Gradualism
	Generations
	Public Consciousness and Cyclical Change
	sidebar: Mac Rood on energy politics
	The Political Weather
	Making cycles serve us: Leigh Seddon's story
	Shift Happens
	sidebar: Jon Stoumen on Secondary Performance
Chapter 15	the Will to Survive
	Bunkers will not save us: Leander Poisson's story
	Shelter without Pollution or Compromise: Alan Crabtree's story
	Mass-producing mistakes
	Mechanical Crucifixion
	Who will continue the work? Scott Suddreth's story
	The Tough Keep Going
Chapter 16	Forward!
	What We Know
	What We Must Do
	sidebar: Rocky Mountain Institute
	The soft path: Hunter and Amory Lovins's story
	The Future's Gifts
	Resource List
	Glossary
	Independent Home Bookshelf

The New Independent Home People and Houses that Harvest the Sun, Wind, and Water a book by Michael Potts paper   *     8x10   *     408 pages 8 page color section + 200 illustrations: b&w photos, graphs, charts, and diagrams ISBN 1-890132-14-4   *     $30.00