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 I’ve added the glossary to my web site for both its historical content—many of the terms were in use during the 1980s and 1990s—and as a reference for the thousands of newcomers to the wind industry since it was first published.
WTG Energy Systems’ MP-200 (1975-1982)
By
Paul Gipe
Who remembers WTG Energy Systems and its developer Alan Spaulding? I’d certainly forgotten about him and his wind turbine until …
Wind Harvest VAWT—a Jungian Vision (the Backstory)
By
Paul Gipe
While strolling through the Bakersfield Museum of Art this summer—yes, don’t laugh, we have an art museum here—I came across …
Howden Wind Farms: Scottish Adventure in the New World
By
Paul Gipe
The Great California Wind Rush (1980-1985) was on and like gold had done before it, the lure of riches drew …
The Howden Wind Turbine Theme Song—“Turn em On, Let em Run”
By
Paul Gipe
The Great California Wind Rush was the Wild West of wind energy. So it’s fitting that one of the songs …
A new wind farm in Kansas trailblazes with light-mitigating technology
By
Michelle Lewis
Sunflower Wind is the first in the state to feature an Aircraft Detection Lighting System (ADLS) that uses radar to scan for aircraft. When ADLS is installed on a wind farm, the nighttime lights on the turbines blink only when aircraft are detected, thus reducing light pollution for residents who live close enough to be able to see them. Approval from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is required to install ADLS, and the FAA reviews every turbine individually. The FAA requires that the ADLS activate and flash if an aircraft is at or below 1,000 feet above the tallest wind turbine and is approaching a three-nautical mile (3.45-mile) perimeter around the wind farm.
Denmark’s Energy Museum Loses Funding—Will Close
By
Paul Gipe
Denmark’s Energimuseet (the Energy Museum), a “must see” for anyone working in the energy field, especially those of us in …
