With all the current books about alternative energy sources, why do we need another? This book, like most others on the market, is a step toward helping the solar home industry happen, but that is where any similarity ends. It contains thirty original solar designs, the plans for which are available for purchase at reasonable prices. We have attempted to integrate a wide range of people's personal tastes with energy conservation and the exciting geometries that solar design inspires.

Until now, in order to build a solar home, you had to hire an architect, a builder, solar equipment consultants, and installers. With architect fees in the range of 8% to 14% of the construction cost of a new home and contractor fees in the range of 10% to 20% of the cost, little money has been left for solar hardware and professional consulting. This book attempts to provide solutions to such cost problems by providing designs that most builders can efficiently construct. It can even give the skilled consumer an owner-built alternative.

Space/Time Designs, Inc. originally became interested in solar home design because the geometric three dimensional requirements of solar seemed to blend naturally with the type of design procedures we were already using. Homes integrating solar systems can be technologically interesting, but equally important, they can also be aesthetically and emotionally stimulating. People's feelings are a key ingredient in these homes and since there are as many different feelings in design as there are people, these thirty homes are just a glimpse into a field of design that is still in its infancy. These homes are meant to encompass the broadest possible range of people's feelings.

With the help of our plans, specifications, and control format, and with instructions on how to use them, most builders will be able to build a solar home with their bank's blessing.