If you are at all interested in solar power, be it home heating, electrical generation, cooking food, or roasting coffee beans, Build It Solar has something for you. The site was started by Gary from Bozeman, MT, who began tinkering to improve his home and found a lack of organized information about solar heating on the internet. Since then, his site has grown to be the largest and most comprehensive site on do-it-yourself use of solar resources at home.
The site also has an experimental section, where home builders can share their designs, testing data, and other information. I’ve used the solar water heating section while researching our current research project, designed to heat enough water to help heat our house this winter. It outlines the various designs and compares materials and components of these systems. The best part of this site, in my opinion, is that the designs are built and tested by regular people for use at home, an idea central to the Low Technology Institute’s mission.