by Stylus
21. July 2009 12:27
There was enormous interest in Earthscan books at the Intersolar North America conference held July 14-16, in San Francisco. The best-sellers were books on photovoltaic systems, followed by solar thermal. Any book on designing with solar components did very well, as did books on wind energy and the business of selling solar.
It seems as if the U.S. is finally stepping up to play a more prominent role in the international solar energy community. This was just the second Intersolar North America conference, and most of the 15,000 attendees were from the US, as were most of the 437 solar and 119 semconductor exhibitors. However, there were also a large number of exhibitors from Canada, Europe, and Asia (especially China). The attendees were a truly global group, hailing from places ranging from South Korea to South Africa.
There seemed to be a hunger for the high-quality, in-depth information that Earthscan books offer. Most of the other media present were magazines or online providers that offer valuable, yet more ephemeral, information.
Price is still generally agreed to be the biggest barrier to wide use of solar power in North America, because power from sources such as hydroelectric, is still relatively inexpensive in large areas of the continent.
