Articles by
Paul Gipe
UTRC, Windtech, Dynergy, & Composite Bearingless Rotor Timeline
By
Paul Gipe
For details on development of the Composite Bearingless Rotor and its derivatives see my accompanying article Failed Dream: the Bearingless ... Read more
NREL’s Wild West of Wind: a Glimpse of California’s Past
By
Paul Gipe
While interviewing Brian Smith about his early career during the Great California Wind Rush, he mentioned that NREL had done a retrospective on the history of the lab. Specifically, he suggested I take a look at the chapter titled the Wild West of Wind.
Yee ha! Brian was right. He and Walt Musial have some great tales in that chapter. If you weren’t working in California’s wind industry then and you want a flavor of what it was like, take a look. The title is a pretty accurate summary of the times.
Capacity of 2020 Bolt with New Battery after 20,000 Miles
By
Paul Gipe
I've tracked battery degradation in the EVs we’ve driven during the past decade. The short answer is that our Nissan Leaf lost a lot, our Chevy Bolts not so much.
Since switching to the Bolts, we’ve traveled nearly 70,000 miles on three different batteries. Each battery has lost about 5% of its capacity over 20,000 to 30,000 miles. Importantly, this modest capacity loss hasn’t affected how we use the cars or how far we can drive them.
Photos of 1990s Windane Added to Site
By
Paul Gipe
While editing an article I stumbled across some photos of a Windane turbine on Pajeula Peak in the Tehachapi Pass. ... Read more
Wind power development: A historical review published
By
Paul Gipe
Another article on the history of wind turbine development has been published in the academic publication Wind Engineering, an imprint ... Read more
On the Writing Life
By
Paul Gipe
I began writing as a way to explore the world, learn something new, and make a difference. It has been that--and more. I've been more or less freelancing since the mid 1970s when I published an exposé in an independent (counter-culture) newspaper on a McDonald's billboard. The article was a success and the offending billboard was eventually removed. Ah, the power of the pen. I was hooked.
200 Term Multilingual Lexicon Posted to Wind-Works.org
By
Paul Gipe
I’ve uploaded a Multilingual Lexicon of more than 200 terms to a Google spreadsheet. The lexicon describes terms used in wind energy in six different languages: English, Dansk, Deutsch, Español, Français, and Italiano.
Glossary of Wind Energy Terminology
By
Paul Gipe
This 30,000 word glossary was written by Paul Gipe and Bill Canter in the late-1990s. I’ve added the glossary to my web site for both its historical content—many of the terms were in use during the 1980s and 1990s—and as a reference for the thousands of newcomers to the wind industry since it was first published.
Wind-Powered Vehicles: Is this a Thing?
By
Paul Gipe
Yes it is. Back in 2022 I wrote two articles on solar and wind-powered EVs. The former I said held ... Read more
Mental Models of How to Charge an EV–or How to Avoid Range Anxiety
By
Paul Gipe
I came across an article by Michelle Lewis at Elektrek on a recent scientific paper on the mental models we ... Read more
Tesla EV Battery Posting Making the Social Media Rounds Again
By
Paul Gipe
There’s a post making the rounds on social media about how terrible Tesla EV batteries are and listing reasons why ... Read more
Tom Weis’ Worldfire: A Climate Journey–Review
By
Paul Gipe
WORLDFIRE: A Climate Journey from the Depths of Despair to a Haven of Hope is Tom Weis’ powerful new book ... Read more
