News & Articles on Wind Energy
This is an archive of articles and news on both large and small wind turbines, wind energy & the environment, and links to topics on the history of wind energy.
I’ve been working with wind energy since 1976 and my professional experience in the subject runs the gamut from wind resource assessment to installing and testing small wind turbines. I continue to follow the industry and analyze its growth and increasing contribution to renewable electricity generation worldwide.
For newcomers to wind energy I’ve added pages from my previous books explaining terms used in the industry.
- 200 Term Multilingual Lexicon: The lexicon translates English terms into five different languages: Dansk, Deutsch, Español, Français, and Italiano.
- Glossary of Wind Energy Terminology: The 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 I’ve added the glossary to my web site for both its historical content—many of the terms were in use during the 1980s and 1990s—and as a reference for the thousands of newcomers to the wind industry since it was first published.
Changes in the Wind in Wyoming’s Carbon County
By
Charles Komanoff
Four states — Pennsylvania, Montana, Utah and Wyoming — have counties named Carbon, after their wealth-generating coal deposits. The last, in the south-central part of the nation’s least populous state but, by some measures, its windiest, is hosting construction of a giant wind farm called the Chokecherry and Sierra Madre Wind Energy Project — 700 wind turbines that within a few years will generate a combined 3,000 MW.
Visit the German Windpower Museum–When You Can
By
Paul Gipe
I’ve just learned that an open-air museum of wind turbines in Germany has expanded its collection to include two US-built machines. I hope to get there some day–once Covid-19 has lifted. Nothing like kicking iron if you’re into windmills.
Cultural Icons of Wind Turbines—A List that Never Stops Growing
By
Paul Gipe
I just added chocolate as a category of subjects that celebrate wind turbines or traditional windmills. Yes, chocolate. I thought “home decor” would be the last category on the topic. I never expected to be writing about table runners or wall paper that featured wind turbines. But the list of categories just won’t stop growing.
Was the World’s First Wind Farm on Rhodes?
By
Thomas Leitlein
In response to my article Who Built the World’s First Wind Farm? Thomas Leitlein argues that it was the island of Rhodes off the coast of Turkey in the Aegean Sea. He makes his case below.
Video of Gedser Mill in Operation
By
Paul Gipe
As interest in the Smith-Putnam project heated up, a colleague directed me to a video of the famous mill at Gedser in Denmark. It was at Gedser where the modern wind industry began.
Smith-Putnam Turbine: Patents and Movie Clip
By
Paul Gipe
Because of increasing historical interest in the Smith-Putnam wind turbine, I’ve added two new pages on the Project: patents for …
