Alternative Energy for Dummies ...

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Learn to:
•
Evaluate the various forms of alternative
energy
•
Understand the science behind future
energy options
•
Sort through the political hype
•
Grasp your options for alternative-fuel
cars
Rik DeGunther
Author,
Solar Power Your Home For
Dummies
and
Energy Efficient Homes
For Dummies
   Alternative
DUMmIES
‰
by Rik DeGunther
Energy
FOR
Alternative Energy For Dummies
®
Published by
Wiley Publishing, Inc.
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Hoboken, NJ 07030-5774
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Copyright © 2009 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana
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Library of Congress Control Number: 2009925036
ISBN: 978-0-470-43062-0
Manufactured in the United States of America
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
About the Author
Rik DeGunther
attended the University of Illinois as an undergraduate and
Stanford University as a graduate student, studying both applied physics
and engineering economics (some of this education actually stuck). He holds
several United States patents and has designed a wide range of technical
equipment including solar energy platforms, military-grade radar jammers,
weather-measurement equipment, high-powered radar vacuum tubes, com-
puterized production hardware, golf practice devices, digital and analog elec-
tronic circuits, unmanned aerial vehicles, guitars and ampli ers, microwave
lters and mixers, automatic cabinet openers, strobe light communications
systems, explosive devices (strictly on accident), cloud-height sensors, fog
sensors, furniture, houses, barns, rocket ships, dart throwers, ame throw-
ers, eavesdropping devices, escape routes, and you name it. He’s one of those
nerdy guys who likes to take things apart to see how they work and then put
them back together and try to gure out what the leftover parts are for.
Rik is CEO of Ef cient Homes, an energy-ef ciency auditing rm in Northern
California. He is actively engaged in designing and developing new solar
equipment, including off-grid lighting systems and off-grid swimming pool
heaters. He writes weekly op-ed columns for the Mountain Democrat,
California’s oldest and most venerable newspaper. He has also written a
highly acclaimed golf book (on putting) and spends most of his free time
attempting to improve his relatively impressive but objectively droll golf
handicap, usually to no avail. Sometimes the urge strikes him to play a very
loud guitar, of which he owns a collection with far more intrinsic quality than
the playing they receive. His hearing has been faltering the last few years, so
he rebuilt his ampli er to go up to 11.
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