Draft:To Catch the Sun

To Catch the Sun is a 2021 book by Lonny Grafman and Joshua Pearce published by Cal Poly Humboldt Press and later translated and republished as Atrapando El Sol (Spanish) and Capter Le Solei (French).

The book is a collection of stories of different communities from various places throughout the world working within their communities to harness solar energy to meet their needs. In addition it includes step-by-step instructions on exactly how to do it. It was released by the authors as a free (zero cost) pdf on the Academia.edu social website.

Response
Yahoo Finance reported that by using the do-it-yourself (DIY) techniques espoused in the book the cost of a solar photovoltaic system could be cut in half. Forbes explained that conventional solar was already economic through most of the United States. Citing a recent study, for example, Forbes said the for every utility, rate structure, and potential solar system in cold, cloudy Michigan, everyone in Michigan would profit by installing solar. If solar owners do the install (except for the final step if grid connected that needs an electrician) they cut the majority of the labor costs, which is about half the cost for a solar photovoltaic system. In a second Forbes article on finding installers for solar, To Catch the Sun, is used to support the idea of DIY solar reducing costs. Most, solar systems provide electricity but they can also be used to provide heat/cooling with heat pumps, and the book's DIY methods can be used too according to LabRoots. The Earth 911 podcast pointed out that the U.S. Department of Energy estimates that switching homes from oil and gas-generated power to solar could save the U.S. $1.7 trillion in reduced energy and health care costs by 2050 and that to get solar installed at affordable costs, To Catch the Sun, offers an answer: DIY installation instructions. Opensource.com reports the book provides ways to make solar work for you in just about any context. and the book made their list of top open source ideas for being more eco-friendly in 2022. DIY solar simply saves money for people with time.

The CTV News Channel showed how a student was able to make a complete integrated off-grid solar system for his van using to Catch the Sun and the supplementary files found on the website Appropedia. Education News Canada said that because the book was released open source, it means the coding for the e-book edition of To Catch The Sun is freely available to read as well as for modification and redistribution. Although the authors are from North America, many of the stories in the book are from other locations. For example, Shareable published an excerpt from To Catch The Sun about the tradeoffs of solar energy system design in India.

It is a" “How to ” manual for anyone that wants to develop a small or community level solar project, for whatever your need might be". This includes buying solar panels as reported by CNET. Sustainable World Radio described it as "uplifting" in an episode where Lonny Grafman reflects on his work and shares his experience about how to how to support communities in increasing their resilience. As the book blends technical and non-technical material it was evaluated positively to help electrical energy education for the U.S. The website Green Building ran an excerpt of To Catch the Sun to explain how charge controllers work. Abdul Basit wrote "To Catch the Sun is a well-written and informative book that provides a comprehensive overview of solar energy. It is a valuable resource for anyone who is interested in learning more about this important technology."

Authors
This is the second in a series of books by Lonny Grafman. Lonny Grafman teaches Environmental Resources Engineering and Appropriate Technology at Cal Poly Humboldt University and builds solar systems all over the world. The first book was To Catch the Rain, which was about open source techniques of rainwater harvesting.

Joshua Pearce is a professor at Western University where he serves as the Thompson Chair in Information Technology & Innovation and specializes in solar photovoltaic technology.

Contents
According to the blog Home Improvement and Repairs, the book contains:


 * Real life stories of building solar power
 * Technical details: Descriptions of solar components and diagrams of systems, replete with real examples (many of which came from the systems described in the stories).
 * Math and science: Easy-to-follow math that allows readers to size small photovoltaic systems for all types of environments and uses.

=== Design-and-builds for dozens of DIY photovoltaic systems, including : ===


 * small home in a financially rich country
 * few homes in a financially poor country
 * school rooms and community spaces
 * ‘zombie apocalypse’ survival tools
 * laptop and cellphone chargers
 * tiny home and van living
 * glamping and backpacking equipment
 * emergency supplies, like powering an oxygen machine during a power outage
 * isolated loads, like electric gates, pumps, greenhouse fans, backup generators and telecommunications gear

Background
Originally a KickStarter project, the authors had 440 backers, which doubled their fundraising goal and enabled them to make it free. Although published in paperback form a notable difference about this book than most is the author's retrained the digital rights and made the book free of charge for the public as a downloadable pdf.

The book has forwards written by Dr. PennElys Droz and Dr. Henry Louie.

Criticism
Forbes questioned if the DIY solar could help meet the Biden Administration's climate goals and if DIY solar was too complicated for most people.