Introduction

If you have basic handyman skills, and a good set of tools, you can install a working solar electric system on your home; we 're assuming you already have a good reason to do this, whether it's paying a little more now to reduce your monthly utility bills, making your local community more sustainable, or some other reason. Why you're doing this is up to you; we're going to show you how. If you're a homeowner who looks at hammers with deep suspicion, we'll also give you the information needed to have a professional come and install it for you. What this book won't do is cover site and state and locale specific items, like electrical codes and wiring regulations. There's too much information there for us to fit into pieces this short, and that information changes unpredictably. You should talk to a local electrician, or your local utility company, about your requirements, though most commercially available systems are going to met the most common regulations out of the box, if they're UL or CSA approved.

See the list to the right for complete information about how to build your own solar-powered system.