Articles by
Paul Gipe
Fun in the Sun: Bringing Sail Wings Back to Greece
By
Paul Gipe
I receive a fair amount of mail of the “What do you think of this” variety. Often it’s a quick push of the delete key and I am off about my business. Occasionally I’ve been known to go “Hmm” and forced to go a little further. A proposal by SAILWIND from the Hochschule für Technik, Wirtschaft und Gestaltung, Konstanz (the University of Applied Sciences, Constance) falls into the latter category.
When is a 1,250 kW Wind Turbine Only 1,000 kW? Setting the Smith-Putnam Record Straight
By
Paul Gipe
French colleague Philippe Bruyerre called my attention to an error I’ve been promulgating for at least four decades. He noted that I’d described the famed 1940’s era Smith-Putnam wind turbine as rated at 1,250 kW. It was not he wrote. It was really only a 1,000 kW wind turbine.
Britain’s First Wind Farm–Three Decades of Delabole–What a Cornish Farmer with a Can Do Attitude Did
By
Paul Gipe
Thirty years ago Cornish farmer Peter Edwards, his late wife Phillipa, and his son Martin installed Great Britain’s first wind farm despite the attacks of those who said it couldn’t or shouldn’t be done. But they persisted, overcoming all the planning objections and the naysayers, completing the project in late 1991.
Covid Escape: Our Final (We Thought) Pandemic Excursion—1,700 miles in an EV
By
Paul Gipe
At the end of this past summer it looked like the pandemic was finally winding down. In celebration, we planned a two-week excursion to Northern California and Southern Oregon in October to see family and friends we haven’t seen in nearly two years. We were vaxxed, boosted, and raring to go. The state of California had finally—after many delays—installed a slew of new DC Fast Charge stations, Electrify America had opened more of their Diesel-gate stations, and the weather was good. It was time to hit the proverbial road.
Winter Range Loss (or Not) Chevy Bolt EV in Bakersfield California
By
Paul Gipe
Recently I fielded a query from friend seeking comment on a widely circulated article by Recurrent on winter range loss in EVs. The implication of the query was that this somehow implies that EVs are not suitable in the winter. Worse, that if you like to hike and explore the outdoors, you can’t use an EV because of winter range loss. In other words, keep driving that low-mileage Subaru or big SUV if you want to go skiing or hiking in the mountains during the winter.
Battery Degradation 2020 Bolt Relative to 2017 Bolt EV
By
Paul Gipe
With our Pandemic Peregrinations we’ve driven our 2020 Bolt EV far more during its first year of operation than we did our previous 2017 Bolt during its first year. We drove the 2020 Bolt about 50% more during its first year (~15,000 miles) than we did the first year of our 2017 Bolt (~10,000 miles). You’d think that we’d see more traction battery degradation as a result, but that’s not the case. In fact, we see less--about half less.
Shoulder Surgery—Yep, Sometimes It’s Needed
By
Paul Gipe
This may be more than you want to know. I had my doubts about my upcoming surgery for a torn rotator cuff. It had been six months since I injured myself and I was beginning to think that maybe I didn’t need surgery. After all, when asked about my pain I said it was zero. My shoulder seldom hurt except when I did something wrong. I made an effort not to do those things. You learn pretty quickly what not to do to avoid pain.
Another Long-Forgotten Wind Turbine–This Time on the Isle of Man
By
Paul Gipe
The research for an article on the history of early wind turbines took me down one fascinating rabbit hole after another. Previously, I mentioned Dimitri Stein and his Nordwind turbine on the Island of Neuwerk in the Wattensee. Another long-forgotten wind turbine I’d never heard of before was off the west coast of England on the Isle of Man.
Airborne Wind Energy Systems (Kites)
By
Paul Gipe
With the exception of FloDesign/Ogin, shrouded turbines have fallen out of favor with inventors as well as the media. The buzz in 2013 was all about kites or as their promoters prefer to call them Airborne Wind Energy Systems (AWES). Likewise, seed capital for new wind energy inventions has shifted from DOE to Silicon Valley with Google’s investment in Makani’s flying wind turbine.
Who Was Dimitri Stein and was He the First with Wind in Post War Germany?
By
Paul Gipe
While working on an article on the history of early wind turbines, I tumbled down a very deep rabbit hole. How was Dimitri Stein able to work on wind energy in Berlin during the height of World War II? This was post Kristallnacht, and Stein lived and worked right under the nose of the Third Reich.
Sky Sails, Traction Kites, and World Record Holder
By
Paul Gipe
Ron Swenson, an old hand at solar and electric vehicles reached out to me after I mentioned Sky Sails when I railed against a thoughtless article in the Guardian about a bladeless wind turbine. Turns out Swenson is also an old hand at competitive sailing too.
