Books Reviews by Paul Gipe
I have an extensive library on wind energy and energy policy. A number of these books I’ve reviewed over the years. Not all are in English, my native language. Nonetheless, I’ve reviewed some books in German, French, and Danish because I think it’s important to hear what these authors have to say about wind development in their countries.
Still Turning: A History of Aermotor Windmills–A Review
By
Paul Gipe
Finally an answer to a question that has gnawed at me for decades: Where did one of the great windmill manufacturers of all time get the name Aermotor? Why not Aeromotor? That was the way I’ve spelled it—in error–many times. Why not Airmotor? That’s certainly what it was.
Wind Energy for the Rest of Us: A Comprehensive Guide to Wind Power and How to Use It
By
Wind Energy for the Rest of Us by Paul Gipe straddles two—or more—worlds. The book is about wind energy. It’s not just about small wind turbines. It’s not just about large wind turbines. It’s about the depth and breadth of wind energy, encompassing more than either type of wind turbine. It includes water-pumping windmills and sailing ships.
Catching the Wind of the World (the Aerodyn Story)—a Review
By
Paul Gipe
Den Wind der Welt einfangen is part of series of retrospectives being issued by pioneers in the field of wind energy as they near retirement. Written by freelance journalist Dierk Jensen, Catching the Wind of the World (the English title) traces the growth of a German company that designs wind turbines: Aerodyn.
Wind Energy: Renewable Energy and the Environment—a Review
By
Paul Gipe
The expansive title of Vaughn Nelson’s Wind Energy is appropriate as Nelson delves into such taboo topics as population, exponential growth, and exhaustion of fossil fuels.
Wind Power for the World: The Rise of Modern Wind Energy—a Review
By
Paul Gipe
Wind Power for the World tells an exciting tell of hope and promise—how a small band of activists, dreamers, and entrepreneurs built one of the world’s fastest growing and dynamic industries. It’s a must read for anyone who wants to understand how we got to where are today.
Small Wind: Planning and Building Successful Installations—a Review
By
Paul Gipe
Nolan Clark, an early wind pioneer, summarizes a lifetime of developing and testing wind turbines for agricultural use in Small Wind: Planning and Building Successful Installations.
Wind into the Grid–A Review
By
Paul Gipe
Wind into the Grid by Günther Hacker is an E-book in English about his experience trying to use a small wind turbine for his home in Germany.
WIND BEWEGT: Kleine Windräder bauen Vom Miniwindrad bis zum Stromerzeuger
By
Günther Hacker Und Gabriele Jerke
An E-book by Günther Hacker in German is ideal for home wind experiments. Science teachers with a modicum of German will find it a font of simple wind devices that can be made from craft materials.
Windpower Ownership in Sweden–a Review
By
Paul Gipe
Windpower Ownership in Sweden: Business models and motives, the new book by Tore Wizelius helps English-speakers understand how Swedes have taken a sizable ownership of wind energy in spite of their government. In this, his book can serve as an inspiration to community wind advocates worldwide who face many of the same challenges faced in Sweden.
Renewables International: Socrates didn’t invent solar architecture–Review of John Perlin’s Let it Shine
By
Craig Morris
The knowledge from Faust’s book was translated into an active solar building program in the 1820s through the 1850s in Lower Bavaria, Hessen and Prussia. . . Faust’s ideas were implemented in Bavaria, where the first solar schools were built. Faust’s Sonnenstadt plan was an ideal solar city, and the frontispiece to his book became a reality as the inspiration for the rebuilding of La Chaux-de-Faunds, Switzerland in the 1850s. In 2009, the United Nations chose the city as a World Heritage Site.
