Solar Electricity Basics by Dan Chiras

    This just came in yesterday at the U bookstore and I picked it up with my leftover rebate from last year. While I'm not excited to add a third book to my list of things to read, I'm really looking forward to building a few small modules for my parents house once I get some money together. As the title says, it will give me a good basic overview of how to set up a small home system. When I make it to the point of actually building something, I plan on writing multiple step-by-step posts as I progress so that anyone looking to add just a few panels to a house could benefit as well.
    I just finished the second chapter, which covered basics of solar radiation such as irradiance vs. irradiation, how peak sun hours are calculated throughout the surface of earth, and methods of obtaining the most efficient system using this information.

    The introduction chapter simply discussed the pros and cons of solar electricity and how rapidly growing the industry is becoming due to the increased cost of fossil fuels and the need for clean renewable energy in a time of major climate change.

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An article in 2005 discusses how conservative groups in Texas lobbied against a environmental science text book that Dan Chiras had written, claiming it to be "anti-free enterprise, anti-Christian, and anti-American." Here is a link to the Columbia Missourian article.