Paul Gipe
is an author, advocate, and analyst of the renewable energy industry. He has written extensively about the subject for the past four decades, receiving numerous awards for his efforts. Gipe has lectured before groups from Patagonia to Puglia, from Tasmania to Toronto, and from Halifax to Husum. He has spoken to audiences as large as 10,000 and as small as a private presentation for Vice President Al Gore. Gipe is well known for his frank appraisal of the promise and pitfalls of wind energy, including his stinging critiques of Internet wonders and the hustlers and charlatans who promote them. He led the campaign to adapt electricity feed laws to the North American market–the same policy that has stirred a renewable energy revolution in Germany.
Latest Articles by Paul Gipe
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Paul Gipe
Passerby Killed by Wind Turbine in Japan
A cyclist was killed by falling wind turbine blade in Japan. To my knowledge this is the first case of a passerby being killed by a wind turbine. The 81-year old man was cycling near the wind turbine on what appears is a paved bicycle path. Takashi Shishido was likely …
Presentation for Kern County’s Nature Center at Hart Park for delivery Sunday 15 June on our journey to converting our fossil gas appliances to electricity. Check against delivery. Stop Burning Stuff Home Electrification
While archiving articles I’d written for the American Wind Energy Association’s newsletter, Wind Energy Weekly, I came across this one about Fayette’s restructuring in 1990. At the time I was the west coast representative for AWEA in Tehachapi. There’s not a lot on my web site about Fayette. (I do mention them in my books and in articles on capacity factor and how this figure of merit can be so misleading.) Consequently, for historical reference I am posting the article with the original date that I submitted it to AWEA. See Fayette Reborn in Major Restructuring.
We’ve completed our journey to electrification that began shortly after Congress passed the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) in mid 2022. We no longer “burn stuff” that is, we’re no longer using fossil fuels in our home.[1] In response to incentives in the IRA and to those offered by the state …
Formerly, we heated our home with fossil gas as nearly 50% of American families still do.[1] After powering a conventional automobile, heating with gas for us was the second largest consumer of fossil fuels in our household. We converted our cars to electricity a decade ago and we haven’t looked …
The state of California is encouraging home electrification through a series of measures providing rebates and technical assistance. One such measure is California’s “Energy Smart Homes” rebate program. This program offers a $250 rebate for an installation of a heat pump dryer. We already had an electric dryer. It was …
Since the advent of EVs, drivers have wondered how to use that big battery to power their home in an emergency. Some modern EVs can do just that–at a not insignificant cost. Less ambitious is Hyundai’s approach. Their Ioniq 5 and Kia’s EV6 can use an optional adapter to draw …
Other Articles
Environmental and consumer advocacy groups are seeking to reverse a 2022 decision by state regulators to slash by around 75% the rates paid to compensate customers with solar installations for the excess energy they generate. The move, intended to shield non-solar customers from unfair cost burdens, sent solar hookups plummeting. Three environmental groups bringing the case — the Center for Biological Diversity, The Protect our Communities Foundation, and the Environmental Working Group — argue that the California Public Utilities Commission didn’t properly consider benefits to customers and disadvantaged communities when it changed the program. The commission argued the policy strikes a balance between affordability for all customers and encouraging renewable energy choices.
The path to Canada’s electrified future is clear and achievable. It offers a chance not only to radically reduce greenhouse gas emissions but also to build a stronger, more resilient economy, foster innovation, and secure sustainable energy independence. Leveraging insights gained from Ireland’s process, Canada can confidently embark on its energy transition journey, transforming its abundant renewable resources into lasting prosperity and environmental stewardship for generations to come.
Renewables will make up more than of Danish 100% electricity in a couple of years time and just wind and solar not long after that. On the other hand a new study concludes that, around the world, nuclear power projects have cost overruns that are over 100%. Solar and wind have very low, if any cost overruns.
“The South Westerlies” is a TV serial produced in 2020 that revolves around a wind farm proposal. Here’s a brief review by Elaine Hebert. “The South Westerlies” – a TV show on Acorn TV. So far it’s one season comprised of 6 episodes, but there may a second season coming. …
The Montpellier court has ordered a one-year suspension of the Bernagues wind farm, finding Énergie Renouvelable du Languedoc responsible for the death of a golden eagle, a protected species, in January 2023.
Solar and wind power are dominating new generation capacity around the world. This is to such an extent that, according to data from the International Renewable Energy Association (IRENA), 90 percent of the net increase in global electricity generation capacity came from wind or solar and 93 percent from renewable energy as a whole. Solar PV provided the lion’s share of this increase, at 72 percent, with wind providing 18 percent, fossil fuels 7 percent, hydro 2 percent, bioenergy 1 percent, and nuclear power less than 0.5 percent.
The following pages include some of the photos from my collection, including both digital and scanned images.
My photographs have appeared in Popular Science, Sierra, Solar Age, Alternative Sources of Energy, L’Espresso, Air & Space Smithsonian, Windpower Monthly, WindStats, Renewable Energy World, and other magazines, in several engineering and physics textbooks, on brochures and posters published by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, by Friends of the Earth (UK), by the Union of Concerned Scientists, and the World Wildlife Fund.
