Although other books present composting as a complex, difficult process, it doesn’t have to be. The Complete Idiot’s Guide® to Composting removes the guesswork and complexity for gardeners at all levels of experience. It takes readers step by step through the process of,

• Selecting the right compost container to filling it with the right “ingredients”
• Maintaining the mix at the right temperature and humidity
• Using the end product to enrich soil in the garden

The book covers both kitchen/yard waste composting and worm composting, which is rapidly growing in popularity.

About the Author:

Chris McLaughlin (San Francisco Bay, CA) is the author of “The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Composting” (Penguin/May 2010) and “The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Heirloom Vegetables” (Penguin/December 2010). An avid gardener for over 30 years, McLaughlin became a Master Gardener in 2000. During that time she picked up specialty certificates, one of which was a certification from the National Wildlife Federation as a Backyard Wildlife Habitat Steward helping people plan and plant for wildlife in their own yards.   Currently, McLaughlin teaches kids gardening and actively writes for several online sites including as a regular contributor at Vegetable Gardener.com and Fine Gardening.com. She’s the Feature Writer of Vegetable Gardens at Suite 101, and also writes as the San Francisco Gardening Examiner for Examiner.com.  When time allows, she relaxes and talks about her own gardens at A Suburban Farmer.com (www.asuburbanfarmer.com). Her work can also be found in Urban Farm Magazine, and The Herb Companion.  McLaughlin focuses on guiding and encouraging gardeners living in suburban or urban spaces to grow food in their own backyards.

The Complete Idiot’s Guide® to Composting

ISBN: 9781615640089, May 2010, $14.95

Author:  Chris McLaughlin (San Francisco Bay, CA)

Newly updated for 2009 is the third edition of Ready Mixed Concrete Industry LEED Reference Guide. This updated edition incorporates new LEED 2009 for New Construction and Major Renovations (LEED 2009 NC) information and provides guidance on how concrete may contribute to gaining LEED points for construction projects seeking certification in the United States Green Building Council’s (USGBC) Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) green building certification system. This guide will help you educate specifiers about the energy saving and pro-environmental benefits of concrete and how it may fit into projects that are to be LEED Certified. It also supports your profitability with information to help you improve your business’ and concrete’s environmental performance.

LEED, the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design® program is designed to promote the construction of high-performance, sustainable buildings.

Purchase Copies │ Download PDF

The book is authored by Andrea J. Schokker, professor and head of the civil engineering department at the University of Minnesota Duluth. Schokker is a member of the Board of Direction for the American Concrete Institute (ACI) and is active in many ACI committees including Joint ACI-ASCE Committee 423, Prestressed Concrete, and a subcommittee of Committee 318, Structural Concrete Building Code. She is the chair of ACI Committee 130, Sustainability of Concrete.

This publication is now available.  Order Now through the American Concrete Institute.

It’s available for download from ConcreteNetwork.com: Concrete Homes Catalog

Running Out of Water examines the impending water crisis and identifies successful solutions that have improved water security for everyone from farmers in Southern California to residents of Brazilian slums.

In accessible language, water policy expert Leal and Professor Peter Rogers explain the water and wastewater challenges facing the United States and the world. Leal and Rogers make the case that the looming water crisis is avoidable and that solutions are possible. The authors root their assertions in real-life examples that can be replicated.

Hoboken

If you’re jumping into this exciting new field, Photovoltaic Design & Installation For Dummies is a fun and easy way to get a grip on key concepts, mathematical and electrical fundamentals, and overall process. While helping you become a member of the quickly rising green movement, this green collar handbook teaches the earth-friendly ways to stretch homeowners’ dollars, lessen the carbon imprint, and increase your skill set.
Other lessons include:

• Piecing Together Your Photovoltaic System Design
• Before Survey to First Installation—Overlooked Tips
• Safety First, Solar Energy Second
• Perfecting the Nuances: Don’t Miss a Ray
• Big Brother’s Watching: Avoiding Code Mistakes

Whether you’re a building professional looking to expand your business and skills to meet the growing demand for solar power installation, you’re seeking a career in this rapidly expanding field, or you just want to save some serious dough at home, Photovoltaic Design & Installation For Dummies has you covered!

About the Author:

Ryan Mayfield is president of Renewable Energy Associates, a consulting firm providing design, support, and educational services for commercial photovoltaic systems. He is also photovoltaic systems technical editor forSolarPro magazine, where he also regularly contributes feature articles.

About the Book:

Photovoltaic Design & Installation For Dummies^® (Wiley Publishing, Inc., 2010, ISBN: 978-0-470-59893-1, $24.99) is available at bookstores nationwide, major online booksellers, or directly from the publisher by calling (877) 762-2974.

Off the Grid, by Nick Rosen

In Off the Grid author Nick Rosen, an award-winning documentary filmmaker, journalist, and broadcaster, travels across the U.S. to meet middle-class drop-outs, cult authors, pot growers, foreclosed families, and nature lovers spending their daily lives unplugged from mainstream society—doing without traditional sources of energy, forgoing indoor plumbing, and shunning fossil fuel-demanding transportation.

While investigating the motivation behind this movement of self-reliance, Nick delves into provocative topics such as the power of big energy companies and their hold on the U.S. economy—using the Blackout of 2003, a massive power outage which left parts of the Northeast, Midwest, and Ontario, Canada without electricity, as an alarm bell.

Off the Grid goes beyond stereotypes in its coverage of those who are choosing to take energy-conservation, slow-living, and the preservation of individuality a step further.

The people featured in Off the Grid, and within the movement at-large, are not always the back-to-the-wild recluses that one might expect, although a few are profiled, including the rustic character made popular through Elizabeth Gilbert’s The Last American Man and gun-toting novelist Carolyn Shute. To the contrary, many of those living off-the-grid have built small communities of like-minded people, often families with young children who are committed to helping one another. There are groups of devoted environmentalists who see this lifestyle as the only responsible way to counteract the massive energy consumption prevalent in ordinary American life. Others live this way rather unexpectedly, after finding urban and suburban lifestyles in conflict with their personal ethics, and still others were forced into their situations by economic factors beyond their control.

Those in Off the Grid are all incredibly diverse but what they do have in common is their understanding of how tenuous their unique situation is, and the effort and determination required to maintain it. In the modern era, when Americans and the world in general are pushing towards greater connectivity and development, they are struggling to hold onto what they have—and often fighting back against the authority they wish to escape. Although the stories of these alternative lives are varied, all are truly incredible.

Off the Grid: Inside the Movement for More Space, Less Government, and True Independence in Modern America (Penguin Original; On-Sale: July 27, 2010; ISBN 978-0-14-311738-4; $15.00)

For more information about living off-grid, check out off-grid.net and the off-grid video channel at YouTube.