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ENERGY INDEPENDENCE: YOUR EVERYDAY GUIDE TO REDUCING FUEL CONSUMPTION Christine Woodside, The Lyons Press, Guilford, CT, 208 pages, $16.95, Dec 2008, ISBN: 978-1-59921-528-4
Although the term "energy independence" is often used in the context of oil imports, author Christine Woodside is interested in the question of how we can each reduce our energy costs, especially with self-produced renewable energy.
Woodside, who is not an engineer, chose to investigate alternative energy technologies by interviewing people who are using these technologies. She describes her own family's experience with a wood-fired boiler (which provides heat and hot water), and covers minihydroelectric plants, windmills and photovoltaic generators.
Woodside and her family - who live in a small town in Connecticut - slashed their heating bill with a combination of purchased, bartered and gathered wood. The book expands on the...