Lori Ryker's Excellent Off the Grid Books

I just picked up a copy of Lori Ryker's recent book, Off the Grid Homes: Case Studies for Sustainable Living. It's a follow up to the earlier book of the same theme, Off the Grid: Modern Homes + Alternative Energy, which I bought last summer and have really enjoyed. The new book is just as good, maybe even better.

Both texts take an in-depth look at a half dozen or so houses that all employ a variety of green strategies both in design/construction and power generation. You'll see examples of passive and active strategies, PV and wind power, solar hot water systems, rainwater catchment, graywater, geothermal, and natural cooling. Featured homes range from city, to suburbs, to rural locations. Some are big, some are small. They're all really nice homes. Very inspiring.





Ryker is an architect, and the latest book features her own home, the RN House or Outside/In House (pictured on the new book's cover). It's a green, off the grid marvel that lives very large for its modest 2,200 square feet. You can read a little about it at this post on treehugger, and you can see a slide show of the house on Outside Magazine's website.

Other architects' works featured include Pugh+Scarpa, Arkin-Tilt, and Lake/Flato. Color pictures throughout will make you drool, and keep you coming back to pull these books from your bookcase again and again.

The Off the Grid books are really great. You'll learn a lot about how truly green homes are built, and how varying strategies work together to compliment the site's location and characteristics, and the needs of the homeowners. Highly recommended for your green home library.

Image credits - Amazon.com listings