Articles by

Paul Gipe

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Urban Turbines: What Are They and What Makes Sense

By

Paul Gipe

Urban wind turbines. The image is immediately appealing. Most people live in cities. Most people want to use wind and solar energy. Thus, there must be ways for those living in cities--urbanites--to use wind energy.

Wind Energy Royalty Revenue Calculator (qpw)

By

Paul Gipe

Spreadsheet for calculating royalty revenues from wind leases. . .

Royalty Revenue Calculator for Wind Energy.xls

By

Paul Gipe

Spreadsheet for calculating royalty revenues from wind leases. . .

Staggering Solar PV Growth in Germany in 2005

By

Paul Gipe

  In a powerful display of how electricity feed laws can drive rapid development of solar energy, Germany installed $4 ... Read more
Solar Office. Solar powered office building in Schonau, southern Germany.

Strom Rebels of Schönau: The Village That Built Their Own Solar Utility

By

Paul Gipe

Alt captured that rebellious spirit in his inspiring tale of the small town of Schönau and how residents built a solar utility in the deep recesses of Germany's Schwartzwald--the Black Forest of legend. The story has all the elements of its own legend in the making. Small town Davids against electric utility Goliaths. Simple townsfolk with a bright, you could say "sunny", outlook on the future. And a decades-long struggle to bring their dream to reality. There's a movie script waiting to be written, or at least a documentary

Renewable Energy Tariffs or Standard Offer Contracts: An Historical Time Line

By

Paul Gipe

  1983: Standard Offer Contracts introduced in California. Standard Offer No. 4 contracts, which fixed purchase power rates or Feed-In ... Read more

The Power of Language: ARTs are not SOCs

By

Paul Gipe

In retrospect, the Ontario Sustainable Energy Association erred in adopting the language of its client, the Ministry of Energy, in ... Read more

Tiered Pricing of Renewable Tariffs for Wind Energy

By

Paul Gipe

  One of the continuing problems with wind energy has been the rush to windy sites. This was as true ... Read more

Tiered Tariffs, Complexity, and Demands on Staff

By

Paul Gipe

  Some critics have charged that determining wind tariffs after a five-year test period is too complex and too demanding ... Read more

Degression of Renewable Tariffs

By

Paul Gipe

  Germany’s Renewable Energy Sources Act (EEG) reduces the tariffs for new projects each year. This “degression” rate varies with ... Read more

Renewable Electricity Generation Policy Mechanisms for the New Zealand Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority

By

Paul Gipe

Related Files eeca_renewable_energy_policy_mechanism_ver_06-pdf
Toronto’s WindShare cooperative. WindShare’s more than 400 members own one half of the wind turbine. Toronto Hydro, the municipal utility owns the other half. The Lagerwey 52 meter (170 foot) diameter wind turbine stands at a prominent location overlooking the Gardiner Expressway in Canada’s largest city. The first urban wind turbine in North America, it has became a beacon for renewable energy advocates across the continent. 2009.

Toronto’s WindShare Coop

By

Paul Gipe

North America’s first truly urban wind turbine is located on the grounds of the Canadian National Exposition, the CNE or ... Read more