Best Books on Off-Grid Power for Preppers (2026)
These books cover small solar, wind, and battery systems, plus wood heat for when there's no grid power. Get a qualified electrician to check anything you connect to a house.
10 books, ranked. Affiliate links.
#1
Solar Electricity Handbook
Michael Boxwell
A practical guide to designing and installing small solar electric systems. Updated in regular editions. Beginner level, 241 pages, 2016 edition; Tenth edition..
beginner
#2
Off Grid Solar
Joseph O'Connor
A handbook for designing off-grid photovoltaic systems with lead-acid or lithium batteries. Intermediate level, 180 pages, 2016 edition.
intermediate
#3
Power with Nature
Rex A. Ewing
Alternative energy for home and farm: solar, wind, and micro-hydro explained. Intermediate level, 239 pages, Updated 3rd edition. (2012).
intermediate
#4
The Homeowner's Guide to Renewable Energy
Daniel D. Chiras
Overview of solar, wind, wood, and efficiency upgrades for homeowners. Beginner level, 335 pages, 2006 edition.
beginner
#5
Photovoltaics: Design and Installation Manual
Solar Energy International
Solar Energy International's training manual for PV system design. Technical and thorough. Advanced level, 329 pages, Rev. and updated ed. (2007).
advancedLarge reference
#6
Wind Power
Paul Gipe
Paul Gipe's guide to small wind turbines for home, farm, and business. Intermediate level, 496 pages, 2004 edition.
intermediate
#7
Emergency Power for Radio Communications
Michael Bryce
Keeping radios running when the grid is down: batteries, generators, and solar. Intermediate level, 190 pages, 1st edition (2006).
intermediate
#8
The Woodburner's Companion
Dirk Thomas
Heating with wood safely: stoves, chimneys, and fuel. Heat is a survival need in cold climates. Beginner level, 176 pages, 3 edition (2006).
beginner
#9
Rocket Mass Heaters
Ianto Evans, Leslie Jackson
Building efficient wood-fired heaters that store heat in thermal mass and burn very little fuel. Intermediate level, Third edition (2014).
intermediate
#10
Ugly's Electrical References
Charles R. Miller, Daniel Sandefur
The pocket reference electricians carry: formulas, wire sizing, and code tables. Intermediate level, 224 pages, 2026 edition (spiral).
intermediatePocket-sizeSpiral / lay-flat
This list shows our top 10 of 15. See every power & off-grid book in the directory.
How we picked
Every book here is a print reference you could actually use during an emergency, and every edition, ISBN, and page count was checked against Open Library or the publisher. If we couldn't verify a detail, we left it out. The order is our editorial judgment: books a beginner can use come first, then specialist references. Free legal copies are flagged, and we never link to pirated PDFs. Affiliate commissions don't decide what gets listed or where it ranks.
More buying guides: Survival Medicine · Wilderness First Aid · Water Storage and Purification · Food Storage and Preservation · Canning · Foraging · Ham Radio · Homesteading · Survival Gardening · Bushcraft · General Survival