Feb
21
Posted by admin
Updated 02/21/2010
Company Name: Earth4Energy
Product: Renewable Energy DIY Ebook - Claims to provide you with all the information that you need to build a solar panel, or wind turbine.
Year Established: 2006.
In our quest to find the best DIY Renewable Energy Guide we looked at several, then narrowed it down to what we felt were the best two; Earth4Energy and GreenDIYEnergy. We purchased copies of both guides so that we could give you a rare, unbiased review of the product.
As with their main competitor, GreenDIYEnergy, Earth4Energy is an “e-product” which means that the product is delivered to you electronically. When you purchase you also have the option of receiving the product on DVD. And just like GreenDIYEnergy, you have to pay for the cost of having the DVD shipped to you. The main difference here is that Earth4Energy charges $27, compared to their competitor charging $17.
When you purchase the product you will immediately be taken to a download page which looks like this;
You will then see 9 links to choose from as follows; a link to order the product on DVD (cost $27) , Special Earth4Energy discounts, which is basically a partnership with other sites offering you links to free and discounted materials, a link to download the solar and wind guides, which takes you to another page where you can download the 2 main ebooks plus a bonus book, a link to the instructional videos (there are 9 of them altogether), an online video library that contains links to around 34 videos published elsewhere on the web that relate to renewable energy projects (we found these very useful), a free ebook on how to recondition batteries at home, (might be useful if you are going to set up a battery bank), a free ebook on how to make bio-diesel at home, and a link to help you find parts, and tax forms to receive renewable energy tax credits.
The PDF Guides
The first thing we looked at were the PDF guides, which provide you with the step by step instructions for building a solar panel, or wind turbine. At over 5.0mb the solar PDF guide isn’t just a few pages of drawings thrown together like some of the others out there. Everything that you need to know to build a working solar panel is contained within this guide with plenty of illustrations. You will also receive a PDF guide for building a wind generator but it isn’t quite as comprehensive as the solar guide is.
Overall, the guides were well laid out and contain all the necessary information that you will need. Below you will see an excerpt from the solar guide.
Update 02/21/10 The solar guide was recently updated to include better diagrams and photos.
Our rating of the guides from 1-5 is 4.5.
Videos.
The real value in this guide is the video tutorials and these are decent quality videos that show the entire process step by step from start to finish. As mentioned before, there are 9 videos that range in size from 36MB up to 434MB. Most of them being well over 100MB. So these are not short, and it does take some time to download each one to your computer so you have to be patient! A couple of screenshots from the video series are shown below.
Our rating of video quality from 1-5 is 5.
Support.
We didn’t see a prominent link anywhere for technical support so we are going to assume it doesn’t exist.
Price.
Same price as their main competitor, GreenDIYEnergy. $49.97. And they also have the same exit offer where you can receive a discount upon closing the sales page. Our rating of the price of this product from 1-5 is 4.
To summarize our review of Earth4Energy.
All things considered, Earth4Energy delivers a quality product, and they are one of the original players in the DIY Renewable Energy marketplace. They have sold a lot of these guides with a very low overall refund rate so they must be doing something right. Also, they offer a lot of other little bonuses in the form of free guides and other useful tools which enhance the value of the package. Is it worth the price of $49.97? Considering the bonuses, and the HUGE variety of videos available in the package then yes it is. Do you have to be an engineer to understand the schematics and diagrams? No, but like the other guide, some expertise in basic electrical systems, with the ability to solder and work with smaller components is helpful.
What didn’t we like?
We thought $27 was a little pricey to get the whole thing sent to you on a DVD, but we do understand that there are costs involved in producing these. We would also like to see a more comprehensive PDF guide for building the wind turbine.
Other Information.
Refund allowed within 60 days of purchase. (HINT) Wait for the exit offer to get $10 off.
Visit the Earth4Energy Site.
Jan
24
Posted by admin
In order to give you a fair assessment of the information contained within this guide, we purchased a copy of GreenDIYEnergy so we could provide you with an unbiased review of this product. We rate the product from 1-5 in several areas which we will cover individually so that when you finish reading this review, you know exactly what to expect if you decide to purchase it.
Company Name: GreenDIYEnergy
Product: Renewable Energy DIY Ebook - Claims to provide you with all the information that you need to build a solar panel, or wind turbine.
Year Established: 2009
When you first visit the site you will be presented with the usual sales hype. How you can “save 10,000’s off the retail price”, testimonials from past customers, and various bonus materials etc…
The fact is that yes, you CAN save a lot of money by building these yourself. Depending on the size of your system, and how many panels you intend to construct will of course determine your actual cost outlay and long term savings. We wish these pages weren’t so “salesy” but I guess thats just part of the business.
Now on to the product.
If you have never purchased an e product” before, it works like this. After you make payment you will be directed to the download page that looks like this.
You will first be presented with an option to get the whole thing sent to you on a DVD… but this isn’t free. You will have to pony up another $17 to have the DVD sent to you in the mail. So if you want to watch the instructional videos on your TV instead of your computer monitor, you will have to pay for it. They do offer to throw in a few added little “bonuses” as an incentive to purchase the product on DVD.
Next you will be asked for your name and email so they can send you product updates and renewable energy “trends and techniques”. No idea what that means but you can unsubscribe at any time if you don’t find the information useful.
When you scroll down you will see the various links to download the products and bonus materials.
The videos are also on this same page. There are a total of 6 solar panel videos, and 8 wind turbine videos (4 for building one from ABS, 4 for building one from wood). You also have the option of downloading the videos and saving them to your computer.
There are 5 bonuses on the main download page, and 2 on the wind turbine video page. The bonuses don’t have a lot of real value in and of themselves, mostly stuff that you can find free anywhere on the internet. But the fact that they are included is helpful because they relate to the product and may save you some searching around.
Some of the bonuses offered with this guide are;
- DIY Solar Guide Bonus - Electrical Wiring Plans for Solar Panels
- DIY Solar Guide Bonus - Installing and Mounting Solar Panels Guide
- DIY Solar Guide Bonus - Energy Consumer Guide
- DIY Solar Guide Bonus - PV Solar Panel Array Sizing Worksheet
- DIY Solar & Wind Guide Bonus - Solar & Wind Tax Credits & Rebates
- DIY Wind Turbine Guide Bonus - Wind Map Resources
- DIY Wind Turbine Guide Bonus - Renewable Energy Guide
We watched all of the videos and read the instructional material in the PDF’s. The first thing we rate a product on is the quality and completeness of the information, and they way it is presented. On some guides of this type there is either no narration, or the videos look like they were shot with a cell phone camera. Such is not the case here.
Videos
We felt the videos were of professional quality and they didn’t skip over a lot of steps in the assembly process. Our rating of the videos from 1-5 is 5.
PDF Guides.
There are 2 basic guides associated with the solar portion of the package. One is an introduction to photovoltaics, and one called the $98 solar panel. There are 2 wind turbine guides, an introduction to wind energy, and a step by step guide. The content of the PDF’s was well laid out with a good amount of quality illustrations. Our rating of the PDF guides from 1-5 is 5.
Support.
Another aspect that we rate is how well do they respond to technical support questions. We sent 2 test emails through the support area of the site and received a reply within 2 hours with the correct answer to our questions. Our rating of the Support from 1-5 is 5.
Price
Another important consideration is the price of the product. At $49.97 it is right in line with the other DIY Energy Guides of this type. (Hint, wait for the exit offer after clicking off the page to receive a $10 discount.)
Our rating of the price of the product from 1-5 is 4.
Overall, we felt that this DIY guide was complete in every way, and the quality of the videos was above par. The material includes detailed explanations of the technical side of how solar and wind energy work, as well as a large selection of DVD quality videos that allow you to follow along as they construct a solar panel or wind turbine.
To summarize our review of GreenDIYenergy.
It is a good product, with easy to follow instructions including high quality videos and illustrations. Is it worth the price of $49.97? ($39.97 if you wait for the exit offer).. Yes we think so. The gist of it is that you will get all the information that you need to build a working solar panel, or wind turbine yourself. Do you have to be an engineer to understand the schematics and diagrams? No, but some expertise in basic electrical systems, with the ability to solder and work with smaller components is helpful. Is this information available for free elsewhere on the internet? Yes and No. You could probably spend a couple of days searching and manage to find about the same amount of information to get a working project off the ground, but if you consider your time valuable (like I do) and don’t want to waste a lot of time piecing the information together, then you may be better served by spending the money.
What didn’t we like?
We really didn’t like the fact that you have to pay an extra $17 to get the product on DVD, but there are probably costs involved with this process that must be covered.
GreenDIYEnergy is an accredited member of the Better Business Bureau, and they offer a full, no hassle refund if you are not satisfied (within 60 days) which is good.
Visit the GreenDIYEnergy Site.
