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This second collection of Mother Earth News' most popular DIY articles provides enough fun, rewarding projects to keep you and your family busy all year long. Made available to you in an easy-to-use CD-ROM format, just like our popular Mother Earth News Archive on CD-ROM.

Selected from nearly 40 years of material, this collection provides 147 articles for enough fun, rewarding projects to keep you busy every single weekend for a full year!

You can learn how to:

• build a rabbit hutch
• make your own tiles
• build a log cabin
• build a solar water heater
• build a natural swimming pool
• make a kite from recycled materials
• And more!!!

• With an IBM-compatible computer: Microsoft® Windows 98 SE (Second Edition) or newer; with Microsoft Internet Explorer version 5 or newer. You also will need Java Virtual Machine (VM) version 1.3 (free download from www.java.com/en/download/manual.jsp) or newer browser plug-in with Java enabled on your browser and computer.
• With an Apple Computer: Mac OS X with Safari 3.2.525.27.1 or newer and Java. Use the Software Update feature (available on the Apple menu) to check that you have the most up-to-date version of Java for your Mac.
• For Mac OS 9.2.2, this CD must be run in Netscape 7.0.2 with Apple MRJ 2.2.5. (Both available free from www.versiontracker.com.)
• A CD-ROM drive (auto-start should be enabled).

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CLEARANCE ITEM. PREVIOUS RETAIL PRICE WAS $28.95. AVAILABLE ONLY WHILE SUPPLIES LAST!

Although there is nothing complicated about constructing healthier homes, building for health is still not standard practice, and in fact there are many aspects of conventional home construction that are detrimental to human wellbeing.

From foundation to rooftop, to home care and repair, Prescriptions for a Healthy House takes the mystery out of healthy-house building, renovation and maintenance, by walking the owner/architect/builder team through the entire construction process. Chapters include:

• Frame construction alternatives
• Thermal and moisture control
• Finishes
• Flooring
• Furnishings

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Global warming. Rising fuel prices. Dependency on foreign energy. Never have so many Americans been more motivated to invest in renewable energy right in their residence. Leaving the technical jargon and contractor's lingo behind, this book offers clear, practical solutions that any homeowner can put to use right now.

Cutting through the confusing requirements and costs, this book allows average homeowners to find solutions that best fit their setup, lifestyle and budget by explaining each possible energy solution with clear, practical illustrations and straightforward descriptions.

From which type of solar panel fits your roof and sun exposure to finding the most efficient part of your yard to set up a small wind turbine, Renewable Energy for Your Home is packed with information. It shows how to determine if geothermal energy is an option, and includes hints, tips and do-it-yourself techniques to reduce carbon footprints and save on ever-rising energy bills.

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Build your way to a more self-sufficient lifestyle with step-by-step projects for backup and supplementary utilities -- including independent water, heat and electricity -- growing and storing food, raising small livestock, beekeeping and more. Many of the projects require basic materials available at your everyday home center, but this book also provides valuable DIY resources for solar, hydro, greenhouse and gardening needs.

This book will help you build security with utility backup systems and become more sustainable, resulting in less dependence on city systems for basic needs. Whether you have a city plot or simply pots, this book includes all of the information needed to plan, build and succeed with greater self-sufficiency.

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This indispensable guide will save time, money and headaches for those who live or spend their leisure time in rural areas.

Packed with solid, easy-to-understand advice — and clear, detailed illustrations — Country and Cottage Water Systems takes the mystery out of rural water systems and their components. Whether planning a new system or updating, expanding or fixing an existing one, the ideas, the know-how and the solutions are all here.

The book includes tips for do-it-yourselfers, and guidance for those hiring a professional, on a variety of topics, including:

• Methods for testing water
• Making water safe to drink
• Choosing the right pump
• Dealing with environmental issues and legal concerns
• Planning a system's connections
• Types of wells and how to dig a new one or revitalize an old one
• Understanding and installing waste systems
• Troubleshooting septic systems
• How to reduce a septic system's footprint
• The pros and cons of alternative toilets
• How to build an outhouse
• Getting rid of greywater
• How to keep pipes from freezing in winter
• How to winterize a seasonal water system for easy spring start-up

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Whether building a summer cottage in the woods, planning the hunting cabin of your dreams or homesteading off the grid, this handy reference provides a logical and sensible approach to building permanent shelter in out-of-the-way places. Including everything from choosing and clearing a site and creating an electrical power source, to clearing the land and creating a foundation, this book offers instruction on building an A-frame cabin and a rustic log cabin with a framed roof. There is also a special section on designing small buildings to cope with Mother Nature, including earthquakes, heavy snow, high wind and flooding.

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Advances in solar technology have made many DIY-friendly products available to consumers. These include solar water heaters, solar battery charging stations, solar-powered lights, photovoltaic shingles that provide supplementary electricity, solar heat pumps, and solar panel kits that generate primary home electrical service. Among the step-by-step projects is a solar water heating system you can build and install yourself for under $1,000; simple thermosyphon solar heat collectors for barns and outbuildings; and "heat grabbers" that you can fabricate for $50 in materials and position below a south-facing window to provide auxiliary winter heat.

Want to read more? Preview this book: How to Make a Solar Still.

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Studies have shown that the average North American family will spend more than a quarter of a million dollars on energy in a lifetime. What many other countries, including Germany, Spain, France, Denmark, China, Brazil and even Iceland, have realized is that there is a better way to power our homes, businesses and cars: by using renewable energy sources.

Recently, the United States has begun to understand the importance of reducing its reliance on coal, natural gas, nuclear power and hydropower plants, which comprise the majority of the nation's electricity, due to increasing oil prices. Some sections of the country, including California, are turning to renewable energy sources. In fact, 12 percent of California's electricity is produced by renewable resources. The potential for the use of renewables is very large and understanding their use and their impact is key.

Renewable Energy Made Easy will provide you with everything you need to know about these alternative energy sources. You will learn about solar power, wind power, water power, biofuels, geothermal energy, ethanol, wave farms, photovoltaic power plants and hydrogen fuels. You will also become well-versed on the availability, aesthetics, environmental and social considerations, and longevity issues of these so-called soft energy technologies.

In addition, you will learn about the current costs and the projected costs in the future, ENERGY STAR® regulations, the newest research and innovations, and the high development potential of renewable energy. This book will serve as a guide to creating more efficient buildings and an invaluable resource for how to change our preconceived notions about power.

This book has taken the complexity and scientific terms out of this topic, making it jargon-free and easy to understand. Ultimately, you will learn how our country can improve energy efficiency, reduce oil dependence, improve energy security, and reduce the health and environmental impact of our current energy system.

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CLEARANCE ITEM. PREVIOUS RETAIL PRICE WAS $34.95 AVAILABLE ONLY WHILE SUPPLIES LAST!

Emergency Sandbag Shelter is a must-have manual for every home, as an emergency guide. Now for the first time this book is made available to people around the world by its inventor, award-winning architect Nader Khalili (1932-2008), whose specialty was skyscrapers and who dedicated his life to teaching others how to build shelter for humanity. This book, with over 700 photos and illustrations, shows how to use sandbags and barbed wire, the materials of war, for peaceful purposes as the new invention known as Superadobe or earth-bag, which can shelter millions of people around the globe as a temporary as well as permanent housing solution. This affordable, self-help, sustainable, and disaster resistant structural system is a spin off from Khalili's presentation to NASA for habitat on the moon and Mars, which successfully passed rigorous tests for strict California earthquake building codes. This book along with a small library of films and kits can guide anyone to learn and teach how to build a home or community.

About the Author
Nader Khalili, an Iranian-born California architect and author, is the designer and innovator of the Geltaftan Earth-and-Fire System known as "ceramic houses" as well as the Superadobe building technologies. He received his education in Iran, Turkey, and the United States, and has been a licensed architect in California since 1970. In 1975, he closed his successful practice in the United States and Iran designing high-rise buildings and journeyed by motorcycle for five years through the Iranian desert, where he worked closely with local villagers to develop his earth architecture prototypes. His impressions have been collected in his book Racing Alone. Mr. Khalili serves as a consultant to the United Nations and is a contributor to NASA on construction technologies for the moon and Mars. He is the founder and director of the Cal-Earth Institute, Geltaftan Foundation-dedicated to research and development in earth and space architecture technologies for the moon and Mars.

Khalili presently lives in the Mojave desert city of Hesperia, California (north east of Los Angeles). He has a son Dastan and a daughter Sheefteh. He continues to work as an architect, teacher, and author.