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Book Reviews

Free Book: Sustainable Energy — Without The Hot Air

April 14, 2009

I’m very glad to see the publication of a book called Sustainable Energy – Without the Hot Air. Don’t be fooled by the cover — this is book is a lively look at sustainable energy.
I liked the way reviewer Cory Doctorow describes the book on Boing Boing: “This is to energy and climate what Freakonomics [...]

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Notes From The MetaEfficient Labs

April 20, 2008

I’ve been doing a lot of work in the MetaEfficient lab. I thought I would post an update on my experiments and research:

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How to Live Well Without Owning A Car

December 5, 2007

In his book, How To Live Well Without Owning A Car author Chris Balish exposes the true costs of car ownership, and shows how car-free living can put anyone on the path to financial freedom. Take a look at the book’s car cost worksheet, and see how much owning a car really costs — you’ll [...]

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Human Wildlife

June 24, 2007

This book, Human Wildlife, is an interesting survey of the fungi, yeasts, bacteria, worms and other creatures that inhabit the human body. Though sometimes hard to read, it’s certainly illuminating to know about the symbiotic relationships that the human body entertains, and well as the more parasitic ones.

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25 Houses Under 3000 Square Feet

June 13, 2007

As the Small House Society points out, compact homes are efficient in many ways: they require less power, they require less maintenance, they require less materials to build, and they have smaller environmental footprint. Another advantage is that you can invest in land, rather than spend money building a huge home.

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Off The Grid Homes

May 30, 2007

In Off the Grid Homes, architect Lori Ryker, examines a number of modern homes that are “off grid” — meaning they are self-sustaining in regards to electrical power and water use. Looking at each home, she highlights the techniques that were used to generate power and conserve it.

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Solar Water Heating: Book Review

September 22, 2006

Solar Water Heating is the first book I’ve seen that focuses solely on solar water heating. It’s a technique that’s been practiced since ancient times, but until now there’s been strangely few resources on the topic for a North American audience. The author, Bob Ramlow, examines state-of-the-art solar heating systems. He covers not only solar [...]

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Good Green Kitchens

September 11, 2006

This new book by Jennifer Roberts is a detailed and well-photographed guide to remodeling your kitchen using green techniques. Roberts examines green kitchen building materials in depth, and brief surveys water and energy efficiency in the kitchen. The book has over 150 color photographs, and includes case studies of some great looking green kitchens. The [...]

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Carfree Cities: Where Are They?

August 3, 2006

Interested in knowing where you can find places free of cars? There’s an extensive list of carfree places around the world, available now on the Wikipedia. There’s also a book about Carfree Citites available. Here’s our review:
Imagine life in a city free from the noise, stench, and danger of cars, trucks, and buses. [...]

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Efficient: Eating Weeds

July 27, 2006

Weed ‘Em and Reap is a light-hearted but informative introduction to the free bounty of wild foods in lawns and woods, prairies and pastures. Even if you have no intentions of brewing up a crock of dandelion wine or tossing a salad of sour dock and purslane, you will enjoy reading Roger Welsch’s adventures in [...]

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The Healing Powers of Peppers

March 15, 2006

Chile peppers contain one of the most effective curative substances in the world — capsaicin. While many people enjoy eating hot and spicy food they are not aware of the therapeutic properties of chile peppers. The authors of The Healing Powers of Peppers present a wealth of scientific and medical information, including personal testimonies about [...]

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Building Green: A Complete How-To Guide

February 27, 2006

This practical book is the first step-by-step green building guide we’ve seen. It is packed with photographs illustrating building techniques like Earth Plastering, Straw Bale Construction, Living Roofs, Cordwood Building and Cob Building. At over 600 pages, this hefty guide is useful for anyone wanting to see the nitty-gritty details of green building. The author’s [...]

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Better Basics For The Home: Less Toxic Living

January 3, 2006

You can make household and personal care products at home. The mixtures you create will be healthier and of a higher quality than those found in stores. Once you have the right ingredients, mixing them up is quite straightforward. The book, Better Basics for the Home, offers more than 800 simple alternatives to toxic household [...]

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The Solar House: Free Heating

January 2, 2006

People often think of using solar energy for producing electricity, but it is actually easier to harness the power of the sun to heat your home. It’s free heat that has been utilized since ancient times but few modern architects or builders really understand the principles involved. The Solar House, by Dan Chiras, explains architectural [...]

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Earth Sheltered Houses

May 2, 2005

Earth sheltered houses make use of earth or “berms” for protection against the natural elements.
These homes can be complete underground homes, or homes which are protected by earth on just one side. The major advantage of this style of building is that the house has a constant and comfortable temperature throughout the year, so it [...]

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“Green Building Products” Released

April 13, 2005

BuildingGreen has recently released the GreenSpec Directory of environmentally preferable building products and materials. It includes more than 1,850 listings that designers, builders and building owners can use in identifying products to improve the environmental performance of their buildings.
This increased availability of a diverse range of such products and building materials is helping architects and [...]

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Book Review: Field Guide To Sprawl (De-Metaefficient)

March 30, 2005

Who would have thought sprawl could be so entertaining?
I guess its the combination of Dolores Hayden’s extensive collection of sprawl coinages and the aerial photography by Jim Wark that makes this book an intriguing coffetable read.
By glancing through the pages you see examples of curious sprawl phenomena such as “Pork Chop Lots”, “Boomburb”, “LULUs” and [...]

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“Biodiesel”: Book Review

February 24, 2005

Greg Pahl has just released a new book about Biodiesel. Pahl is the author of the informative book Natural Home Heating, which we featured previously.
We like biodiesel because it a renewable fuel that can replace conventional diesel worldwide without the need for massive infrastructure change.
Here is a review of the book:
After setting the tone for [...]

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Clumping Bamboos: The Ones To Grow

February 14, 2005

Many people are reluctant to plant bamboo because they are afraid it will spread like wildfire and have the entire neighborhood up in arms against them. But there’s a simple solution to this problem — plant the right kind of bamboo — the “clumping” kind. The invasive kind is the “running” bamboo which probably should [...]

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Book Review: Natural Capitalism

January 24, 2005

Natural Capitalism is a book which dicusses similar ideas to those we present here at MetaEfficient.
Written by Paul Hawken and Amory and Hunter Lovins of the Rocky Mountain Institute, the book starts off by explaining the authors’ theory of “natural capitalism”, but then it really picks up and provides a fascinating and well-referenced examination of [...]

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