BuildItSolar: Solar energy projects for Do It Yourselfers to save money and reduce pollution

Welcome To Build-It-Solar

The renewable energy site for do-it-yourselfers

Plans, tools and information to help you build renewable energy and conservation projects.

Hundreds of projects -- from changing a light bulb to building a solar home.

Design information and tools for building renewable energy projects.

An Experimental section for backyard inventors.

Nothing For Sale here -- just free ideas, plans, and information.

New On the Blog

Using PV Panels for Shading Structures

PV shading structures

A Few Example Projects (from a thousand or so)

DIY solar pool heating collectors

Tom's Solar Pool Heating System

Lots of solar pool heater designs you can build...

DIY solar space and water heating system

Solar Space + Water for $2K

Solar space and water heating from a single, simple, low cost system.

More on solar space and solar water heating.

New Content

Last update May 15, 2012

Added several entries to the windmill water pumping page...

New section on using PV for shading...

Solar collector size to heat a hot tub...

Solar shade canopy made from PV modules...

A good book on building Natural Swimming Pools ..

Active cooling of water barrel mass with night air...

PV charged Chevy Volt story...

Added logged attic temps for 2011-2012...

A large solar pool heating system...

Sandbed heat storage -- a MN example...

Older new projects...

Deep energy retrofit of schoolhouse converted to home

A Deep Energy Retrofit Project

Gordon's outstanding retrofit of a drafty old schoolhouse into a VERY energy efficient home...

$1000 DIY solar water heating system

Solar Water Heating for $1000

Build a reliable, 4 season solar water heating system for $1K instead or $10K!.

Building a solar shower

9 Fun Summer Solar Shower Designs

Try building one of these nine fun solar showers. They range from very simple to really elegant....

Mooney wall high r value

High R Value Walls - Good DIY

The Mooney Wall -- high R Value walls for retrofit or new construction. For lots more good construction ideas...

solar clothes dryer

Solar Clothes Drying Rack

Save 4+ KWH each dryer load!
Many other conservation and efficiency projects...

Our solar dinosaur

Dozens of Solar Projects for Kids