physics

Home Power

Home Power is a physics topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Home Power rather than just read about it. In short: Home Power was a bi-monthly American magazine based in Ashland, Oregon. At one time it had a circulation greater than 100,000.

Key takeaways

Home Power belongs to physics; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Home Power to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Home Power from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Home Power was a bi-monthly American magazine based in Ashland, Oregon. At one time it had a circulation greater than 100,000. Published from October 1987 through November 2018, Home Power promoted a goal of reducing the use of fossil fuels for electricity generation by replacing fossil fuel generation capacity with currently available renewable electricity alternatives. Solar, wind, and hydro systems information were covered at a homeowner's do-it-yourself level with expert advice and examples. Home Power also provided information on energy efficient building and design practices. Electric vehicle information was also featured and its integration with renewable electricity systems and solar panels. After ceasing publication at the end of 2018 the publishers made a downloadable archive of all past issues available for free from their web site.

History Richard and Karen Perez started Home Power in 1987. From the start the magazine itself had been published with the use of alternative energy resources. Its publishers lived the lifestyle they espouse. Home Power was a recognized leading provider of detailed information for home scale renewable energy installation. Its publishers, authors, and editors were cited in other industry publications and blogs. At its founding, Home Power focused on off-grid systems and do-it-yourself (DIY) information for homeowners. Focusing on "home scale" renewable systems, the magazine did not typically cover utility scale renewable energy issues such as large wind farms or utility scale solar installations. The magazine recognized the up-tick of interest in, and expansion of, the grid-tied solar electric systems market for homeowners. More recently, the magazine covered both DIY systems and professionally installed grid-tied systems on its web site and print editions and in its articles, editorials, and advertising. It also covered broader subjects related to home-scale energy production, including green building, energy efficiency, and alternative transportation. A controversial topic Home Power was once in support of (and coined the term for) is "Guerrilla Solar", (see Solar Guerrilla) or solar power installations by homeowners that are grid tied which are not permitted by the utilities they are tied to. This non-inspected practice has fallen out of favor given the cooperation of utilities with homeowners wishing to install solar, and states' enactment of net-metering regulations. Home Power continued until its end covering the topic by its coverage of micro-inverters and small systems that can safely and legally be tied to the grid. Home Power also has a web presence. The former web site complemented the print edition with most past articles in HTML format, convenient because they are often referred to in current issues. The current web site allows free downloading of all past magazines in Acrobat format. Because Home Power covered off-grid self-reliance it was a popular magazine in the prepper community. Home Power published the final edition of Home Power magazine in November 2018. That November/December issue (HP188) ended the magazine's 31-year publishing run, and now makes all of the back issues available for free, at homepower.com.

Recent initiatives To fill a growing need for reliable information for renewable energy systems professionals Home Power also came out with an industry trade magazine: SolarPro.

References

External links Official website SolarPro homepage

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Home Power

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Home Power claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In physics, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Home Power before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Home Power ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Home Power

In research: Home Power appears in physics research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Home Power in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Home Power is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1987 establishments in Oregon, 2018 disestablishments in Oregon, Bimonthly magazines published in the United States, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Home Power outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Home Power in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Home Power means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Home Power out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Home Power in simple terms?

Home Power was a bi-monthly American magazine based in Ashland, Oregon. At one time it had a circulation greater than 100,000.

Why does Home Power matter?

Because it connects several physics ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Home Power?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Home Power.