As an engineer who works in the realm of alternative energy, there is one thing that often surprises me.The range of quality of information on how to go green is simply astounding. At least once a week, someone will ask me how they can learn how to convert their home, and answering that question can be difficult.

SAVE MONEY WHILE WE GO ABOUT SAVING THE EARTH!!!

Simply put, there are literally hundreds of products out there that teach you how to switch a home to solar or wind generated energy. When you look at these products though, only a few of them are worth anything. Converting a home using professionals is an expensive proposition. To compensate many are turning to do-it-yourself books and making the move to go green on their own. With the wide range of information available, let's first discuss what a go-green learning package is and is not.

First, a program that teaches you to convert your home is NOT the only thing you need. To make the actual conversion you'll still need to follow the guide to building solar panels or windmills or both.

Second, NOT every home is appropriate for green conversion. If you live in an condo for example you don't have the surface area for solar panels, or the land needed to setup a windmill.

Third, a package that teaches you how to convert your home IS an excellent way to reduce and even get rid of that monthly power bill. In fact, if you do it right you'll likely generate more energy than you use, and the power company will have to pay you for the power you feed back into the grid. Best of all, if you choose the right methods to convert your home it can be done for very little cost to you.

Fourth, if you don't take the time to choose the right learning tools then you're just wasting your money. You even run the risk of creating problems for yourself when your real estate value drops due to the non-working solar panels that are covering the roof. Choosing the right tool to learn with is the most important step!

Green Power
Ease of Building
Cost Involved
Overall Rating

Highly Recommended

2. Earth 4 Energy

In second place we have an eBook package called Earth 4 Energy. Previously this one was in top spot, but with Green Power Easy coming to market it got beat out (by far).

The Earth 4 Energy package again consists of both eBooks and videos that work to teach you how to convert your home. The material is clearly laid out (although not quite as well as Green Power Easy) and the instructions are simple to follow. 

When we tested the components that we built using this system the power generated by the solar panels and the windmill did match that of our winner. The only complaint I had about this package was its focus. While Green Power Easy teaches you how to build and implement an alternative energy system for an entire home, this one focuses more on the individual components. It does get into converting the whole home, but it isn't explained as well as with our winner.

Green Power
Ease of Building
Cost of Building
Overall Rating

Also Recommended

4. Energy 4 Green

The fourth product on our list is Energy 4 Green. This one isn't a bad product, but it didn't fair as well as the first two on our list. I think that this one failed mostly because of the way things are explained. 

Energy 4 Green uses the same types of parts, and suggests some of the same methods to build, but they don't explain how to put it together as well. Eventually we did get it all together, and it worked but it wasn't simple. 

When we used this one to convert a home I helped my friend get started, and then he worked to build more of the solar panels we required. He ended up having to buy extra parts to make them work, and the power generated in the end didn't quite match that of the first two. 

All in all this one isn't bad. The home did get converted, and it is generating enough power to run the entire home, but simply for easy of learning I would recommend the first two learning packages before Energy 4 Green.

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