Books published by Low-Impact Living Initiative

From growing trees, through felling them, to selecting appropriate round wood and species for the tasks you have in mind, Andy Reynolds brings a lifetime of experience in forestry, carpentry and innovative thinking to timber for building. He explains how to efficiently convert your chosen wood to usable timber and get the best out of your equipment, before outlining different drying methods and taking you on to preparing the timber for your particular project. Extensively illustrated, timber for building provides a unique resource.

A small-scale gasifier can provide off-grid electricity and motive power on demand using waste garden prunings and wood scraps. The technology, which is based on the ancient principles of charcoal production, flourished one hundred years ago until oil became cheap. In this book, energy engineer and UK gasification researcher Dr Andrew Rollinson explores the science, history, and potential of small-scale biomass gasifiers, along with providing detailed explanations on how to operate one successfully. For a readership which has to contend with dwindling fossil fuel reserves, increased energy prices, climate change, mountains of waste, and the modern version of a small-scale gasifier system, this book provides a helping hand. It will be relevant to those who want to assess whether the technology is right for them, but also serves as an operational guide for the gasifier operator, explaining what can go wrong, why, and how to achieve long-term operational success.Full colour. 170 pages.

There are many books available on using essential oils - now there is one on how to make your own. Making your own essential oils can be a fascinating hobby or, for the professional aromatherapist, a way of ensuring that your products are fresh, unadulterated and organic. The book also describes how to make creams, lotions, balms, gels, tinctures and other skin-care products from the essential oils and distillate waters you have produced.

Back in our cave-dwelling days, food smoking was used to preserve food and then our ancestors discovered just how great it makes food taste. Turan T. Turan has been a passionate smoker of food for many years, teaches courses all around UK and now crystallises his knowledge in food smoking; a practical guide. Within its covers he explains the basics of cold and hot smoking; delves into the principles of combustion (he's a career fireman in another part of his life so he should know!) and explains brining and dry salt curing. He outlines how to source wood for smoking and provides plans for building a cold smoker and smoke generators. He simplifies and demystifies the process of smoking food to enable you to produce wonderful smoked food in a sustainable, eco-friendly way. Enjoy!

Good for developed or developing countries, the wind pump described in this book can pump rainwater, greywater, river, pond or well water for irrigation, aerate a fish pond, run a water feature or even be a bird scarer. This system does not generate electricity. The turbine is 700mm diameter and the turbine head plus rotor weighs less than 4kg. In a light-to-moderate wind it should pump about 1000 litres a day with a head of 4-5 metres. If you have good engineering skills and equipment you can fabricate nearly all of the system yourself; if you get all the parts manufactured, it's not much more complicated than DIY flatpack furniture.

solar hot water: choosing, fitting and using a system provides detailed information about solar-heated water systems and is particularly applicable to domestic dwellings in the UK, although many of the principles described are widely adopted throughout the developed world. Lee Rose has 10 years of experience and involvement in consulting, training and installation work, field trials, technical research, and developmental thinking in the solar thermal industry in the UK and around the world. He combines this with a passionate personal commitment to making the best use of solar energy - the earth's most abundant energy resource. This book provides a comprehensive introduction to every aspect of solar hot water, including all relevant equipment, components, system design and installation and even how to build your own solar panels.

The author grew up in Jamaica and as a child was taught to make soaps by her grandmother. They grew all the plants they needed to scent and colour their soaps and even used wood ash from the stove to make caustic potash when none was available in the shops. This background helped Maxine develop a passion for soap making and a unique type of natural soaps and toiletries, both of which she shares in Make Your Own Natural Soaps. It is intended for beginners, includes both hot- and cold-process soap making, with careful step-by-step instructions. There are extensive bar, liquid and cream soap recipes, full details of the equipment needed to make a start and a re-batching chapter just in case anything goes wrong! And for anyone interested in turning their new skills to profit there is information on the legislation and regulations you need to comply with to be able to sell soap.

This second, expanded edition reflects improvements in wood-fuelled appliances, developments in the type and availability of wood-based fuels and the author's own recent experience of installing and using an automated biomass system. Also includes how to choose, size, install and/or build a wood stove, plus how to obtain, grow and store firewood, health and safety, chainsaws, water heating and cooking with wood.