Gregory Jaczko was an outsider. He wasn’t from the industry. But somehow he was appointed to the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission, eventually becoming its Chair. His 2019 book, Confessions of a...[more]
Ulrich Mertens has done us all a very big favor. With graphic clarity and a professional photographer’s keep eye for composition, Wind in Sicht – Landscape in Transition illustrates the newest...[more]
There are some books that simply bring a smile to your face--even to someone as jaded as I. This is one of them. There is a joy in discovering what the future may hold that comes across in Ulrich...[more]
Hans-Detlef Feddersen sent me a copy of a little picture book celebrating the 25th anniversary of Bürger-Windpark Lübke-Koog. He included a DVD video of interviews with the founders of the...[more]
Benny Christensen knows his windmills. An early anti-nuclear activist and proponent of 100% renewable energy—a photo of him appears in Steven Borish’s Land of the Living—Christensen has now turned...[more]
The title, Störfall mit Charme, is a playful thumbing of the nose in German at the critics of a movement by citizens in a small village in the deepest reaches of Germany’s Schwarzwald or Black Forest...[more]
Geothermal energy is one of the dark horses of renewable energy. Few “renewable energy advocates” know much—if anything—about it. They don’t know what geothermal contributes today and have no clue...[more]
In response to my review of Energy Democracy, a new book on Germany’s energy revolution by Craig Morris and Arne Jungjohann, long-time colleague Bernard Saulnier contacted me with his thoughts.[more]
Rightwing Poles have raised the old canard that wind turbines and, hence, wind energy, is the detestable spoor of Nazi racial ideology. Nothing could be further from the truth.[more]
The copyright was finally issued for Wind Energy for the Rest of Us. A long time coming, the copyright was issued under Title 17 of the United States Code and became effective 5 December 2016.[more]
Is one of the most powerful books on the renewable energy revolution in decades. It’s a chronicle of the remarkable transformation underway in the world’s fourth-largest industrial economy.[more]
They say that a good book should always tell a story. And this is true for this book by Paul Gipe. Titled "Wind Energy for the Rest of Us" is not just about the technology, but it tells the whole...
The Small Wind Conference has chosen Paul Gipe as its keynote speaker for its 2017 conference in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Calling Gipe “legendary” for his four decades writing about wind energy, the...[more]
The book is a combination between a historical book, a textbook and a do-it-yourself book if you want to install your own wind turbine or want to invest in wind energy. It describes the different...
The current newsletter of the Poul la Cour Foundation offers kudos for the new book by Paul Gipe, Wind Energy for the Rest of Us. [more]
The digital version of Wind Energy for the Rest of Us is now available for download. This is the version of the book for true wind geeks as it offers photographic detail not seen any other way.[more]
Fans of my work with wind energy have often joked that my books would have a larger audience if they had some sex in them--or at least a bare breast.[more]
This book analyzes Germany's path-breaking Energiewende, the country's transition from an energy system based on fossil and nuclear fuels to a sustainable energy system based on renewables. The...
Martin Frey's wonderful little guidebook to the Energiewende in Germany is now available in English. Germany - Renewable Energy Experience Baedeker Guides. Frey's book is highly recommended for...[more]
Wind Energy for the Rest of Us, Paul Gipe’s new book on wind energy is finally hitting the streets. Complimentary copies of the 560-page tome are reaching the first group of colleagues and reviewers...[more]
Energy Democracy traces the origins of the Energiewende movement in Germany from protests against the industrialization of rural communities in the 1970s to the Power Rebels of Schönau and German...
More correctly, the Chelsea Green warehouse has books. They arrived 9 November all 2,150 copies. [more]
Ok, we did have a previous ship date. Printed copies of Wind Energy for the Rest of Us were to arrive in the warehouse at the end of October. Obviously, that didn’t happen--and for good reason. I...[more]
Who knew that printing a book would be so complicated? Yes, writing, designing, and editing a book are difficult. That’s expected. But picking out paper weights?[more]
The Library of Congress has assigned the Control Number 2016912305 for the title. The process isn’t complete until a printed copy of the book is received by the Library of Congress. We don’t expect...[more]
The proofreader dropped the marked up manuscript in my lap the Friday evening of Memorial Day weekend—all 550 pages of Wind Energy for the Rest of Us. [more]
The good news is that with a smaller font size and tighter leading (the space between lines) than in my previous books, Holm has been able to substantially reduce the number of printed pages from...[more]
It’s no small sign of wind energy’s success that you can’t keep up with the steady stream of books in English--even when you’re into books on wind energy. It’s even more problematic is you spread...[more]
Big step in the long road to publishing my new book: Wind Energy for the Rest of Us. Today I assigned the ISBN numbers to the digital and print version. Each version of the book has its own distinct...[more]
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...[more]
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...[more]
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...[more]
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.[more]
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...[more]
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.[more]
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.[more]
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.[more]
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...[more]
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...
I’d already marked up my version of Matthias Willenbacher’s book My Indecent Offer to the Chancellor in the faint hope of some day posting a review from the German—it’s difficult and time consuming...[more]
Over the years I’ve noted more than once the observation that most major environmental groups in Germany give a full-throated endorsement of renewable energy, the energiewende, and wind energy in...[more]
Wind Turbine Noise: Rumors, Gossip, Lies, and Stories-- is a lovely little book--56 pages—I’ve had on the shelf for some time with the intent of reviewing it for its insights on the nature of...[more]
Even though most analysts focused only on the economic aspects of feed-in tariffs and quota models and not on non-economic factors, such as transparency and local ownership, the results were...[more]
Powering the Green Economy: The Feed-in Tariff Handbook is a book that has been out for some time and though I’ve thoroughly marked up my copy I’ve never got around to posting a proper review. So...[more]
In a densely populated country like Germany, wind turbines as a consequence are installed near people, as are all other forms of infrastructure. That's one of the most striking observations North...[more]
We were returning to San Francisco from the World Wind Energy Association conference in Bonn this past July. As we boarded the plane we met Hans-Josef Fell. Fell was the reason we had to get back to...[more]
This is a beautifully done DVD on the early days of the Danish wind industry. The film was produced by Jørgen Vestergaard in Danish with English subtitles and includes movie clips, photos, and...[more]
This is a welcome technical tome-well illustrated with photos and drawings that I haven't seen in any other book. Naturally directed at the Indian market, it nonetheless has taken a comprehensive...[more]
Build Your Own Small Wind Power System was written by a small wind systems dealer, Kevin Shea, and a professional journalist, Brian Howard. Be forewarned, this is a big book. It's a modern book. It...[more]
Mea culpa, mea culpa, I am terribly remiss is reviewing this excellent book. I simply can't do it justice. My French is even more limited than my time. Nevertheless, I've picked up Energie Eolienne...[more]
The book, edited by Robert Gasch and Jochen Twele, began as course notes for Gasch's popular course on wind turbine design for engineering students at the Technische Universität in Berlin. Many of...[more]
Greg Pahl's Power from the People is an inspirational guide to the burgeoning community power movement. His case studies of people who are making a difference is often a tale of endurance and...[more]
I've studied engineering and natural resources but my first love is geography. Consequently I've become a big fan of German technical writer and geographer Martin Frey. He's written some great little...[more]
Renewable energy has indeed come of age: It now has its on Baedeker Reiseführer or travel guide. . . [more]
I was just going to pick up the World Wind Energy Association's 2012 Small Wind World Report and extract a few useful numbers to keep myself abreast of the small turbine industry. But once I began...[more]
The Folkecenter for Renewable Energy (FC) has again published a handy report cataloging small wind turbines available worldwide. The FC's 2012 Catalogue of Small Wind Turbines is the one neutral...[more]
What We Can Learn from Germany's Success in Harnessing Clean Energy[more]
Toepfer is one of the pioneers of small wind in the US. He, like myself, began their careers by scouring the Great Plains for junk windmills.[more]
Wind Power: 20 Projects to Make with Paper by Clive Dobson is a great little book with a wonderful collection of photos and diagrams. I learn something every time I pick up a book, even a children's...[more]
Geothermal Power Plants is the book I'd been looking for--an engineering treatise on geothermal. I'd written about geothermal in the mid 1980s, but I hadn't kept up with the industry and needed a...[more]
Windgesichter: Aufbruch der Windenergie in Deutschland (The face of wind: Dawn of wind energy in Germany) by Jan Oelker is a joy to behold. It's one of those rare cases where you can indeed tell a...[more]
L'énergie du vent : Les éoliennes au service des hommes et de leur planète Is a beautiful coffee-table book with page after page of photos sandwiched between essays on how wind turbines work and how...[more]
Subtitled "A practical guide to small-scale energy production," the book follows ground well trod before and seeks to capitalize on the odd American desire to run their kilowatt-hour meter backwards.[more]
L'éolien au cœur de l'incontournable révolution énergétique is a serious work on wind energy for francophone readers. It is my kind of book, chocked full of drawings, charts, tables, and historical...[more]
Wind Power for Dummies by Ian Woofenden is the mass-market, mainstream book on small wind turbines that the industry has long sought as a measure of respectability. [more]
Wind Power The Danish Way: From Poul la Cour to Modern Wind Turbines is a book written by a who's who of Danish wind power. It's a celebratory book and Danes have a lot to celebrate--a lot to be...[more]
The Nature of Wind Power is another celebratory book on Danish wind power leading up to the climate change conference in Copenhagen in 2009. The Nature of Wind Power is by a leading Danish landscape...[more]
I feared the worst when I saw the title. As an outspoken critic of so-called "Urban" wind and especially the British variety, I thought the book would be destined for the dust bin after the first...[more]
Energy Self-Reliant States: Second and Expanded Edition by John Farrell and David Morris came out in October, 2009 and it packs a punch. I chewed on it a little at the time but wanted to delve...[more]
Danish Renewable Energy Policy by Preben Maegaard recounts the historic development of Danish policy from the perspective of one its participants. Maegaard, director of the Nordic Folkecenter for...[more]
This is a book that was done right. It was written by the right people for the right reasons and printed on quality paper in full color.[more]
The World Wind Energy Association's "Wind Energy International 2009/2010" landed on my desk with a reassuring thump. I picked it up simply to move it somewhere else until I could get time to thumb...[more]
Finally, a detailed-some would argue exhaustive-treatment of how to build your own backyard wind turbine. The authors, do-it-yourselfers who actually know what they're doing, are the powers behind...[more]
Miguel Mendonça's Feed-in Tariffs takes his place alongside Craig Morris' Energy Switch in explaining the success of Feed-In Tariffs to English speakers. Feed-in Tariffs joins a growing list of...[more]
Le Grand Livre de l'Éolien est le livre de référence pour tous les acteurs du secteur et pour tous ceux qui souhaitent y prendre part à l'avenir. Il donne au lecteur une vue exhaustive sur une des...[more]
Greg Pahl's idea of shifting the debate from Not In My Back Yard to Please, In My Back Yard with community ownership is an idea whose time has come. That's the central theme of his The Citizen...[more]
Hugh Piggott is one of the English-speaking world's true experts on small wind turbines, especially for off-the-grid applications. [more]
Ok, we liked this book because it has lots of pictures: pictures of wind turbines, pictures of people, pictures of a Danish table cloth, all sorts of pictures. We admit it. We also liked it because...[more]
Ollivier is journalist living in southern France's Languedoc-Roussillion region, the country's premier wind resource area. As a journalist, Ollivier is all-too-familiar with the controversy...[more]
Volkmar Lauber is one of the world's pre-eminent academics specializing in renewable energy policy. Lauber, a professor political science at the University of Salzburg, writes fluenty in English,...[more]
Massive. That's the first word that comes to mind when picking up the 600-page tome by John Twidell and Tony Weir. Of course the broad subject of renewable energy deserves the treatment and I can't...[more]
The World Wind Energy Association (WWEA) issued a bilingual CD-ROM on wind energy at its New Delhi conference in 2006. [more]
Yes, Franz Alt's powerful little book is in German. And yes there's perhaps only 100 million native German speakers in the world. But that's no excuse for ignoring this book. With rudimentary German...[more]
How North America Can Learn From Renewable Energy Success Stories in Europe[more]
Long-time wind energy advocate Tore Wizelius is one of the Swedish pioneers of the technology. Finally his thoughtful book on wind energy and its integration into communities is now available to...[more]
Wind Power in Power Systems is edited by the very capable Thomas Ackermann. It is a massive 691 pages on the status of modern wind turbines and how they are integrated into power systems. The book...[more]
Ion Paraschivoiu is Aeronautical Chair Professor at École Polytechnique de Montréal and he brings to the cornucopia of new books on wind energy his specialty: Darrieus turbines. Like David Spera in...[more]
It's been many years since the publication of new engineering texts on wind energy. But in 2001 a flood of new books in English began flowing from publishers: two substantial volumes by John Wiley &...[more]
The Wind Energy Handbook is one of a trio of big wind energy books by John Wiley & Sons'UK office. After a dearth of new wind energy titles in English for nearly a decade, suddenly there are two...[more]
Winds of Change by Rinie van Est is a masterly work of meticulous research that could well become a classic in its field. It should be required reading for all energy planners, and energy industry...[more]
The book, edited by Robert Gasch, began as course notes for Gasch's popular course on wind turbine design for engineering students at the Technische Universität in Berlin. Many of the book's 15...[more]
"Free, and Still too Expensive" opens Molenaar's doctoral thesis on designing variable speed wind turbines. Molenaar's work is not for the faint of heart. Much of it is well beyond my skill level....[more]
"Wind Energy and Wind Turbines," by Vaughn Nelson and the AEI staff.[more]
When the 11th edition of Real Goods' Solar Living Sourcebook landed with a thud on my doorstep, I knew I was in for a treat. L[more]
American readers will find two sections particularly intriguing: development of wind energy in Germany during the Third Reich, and a critical comparison of the German, U.S., and Danish wind energy...[more]
Timing is everything. And Peter Asmus couldn't have better timed the release of his book about the rise and fall of California's wind industry. Just as California entered its first rolling blackouts...[more]
Researchers at Spain's national energy center, CIEMAT, reported on a survey of small wind turbine technology at the European Wind Energy Association special topic conference in Kassel, Germany.[more]
Hugh Piggott's plans for turning a used brakedrum into a windmill is welcome addition to the literature on small wind turbines. [more]
Having been disparaged as a "Cassandra," I was reluctant to read a book on the topic, especially one with a subtile about optimism. "Oh no," I thought, "another enviro bashing book catering to...[more]
Windiger Protest (Bochum, Germany: Ponte Press, 1998) is a powerful little book edited by Franz Alt, Jürgen Claus, and Hermann Scheer. It sandwiches 189 pages packed with a documented defense of wind...[more]
Those planning wind projects in steep terrain (California, Texas, the northeastern USA, Spain, Italy, France) or those repowering projects in steep terrain (California) should get a copy of North...[more]
This is the first of two reports on wind turbines and aesthetic design. The second is The Landscape Impact and Visual Design of Windfarms by Caroline Stanton. There is also a discussion of aesthetics...[more]
This is the second of two reports on wind turbines and aesthetic design. The other is a Review of Wind Turbines & the Landscape by Frode Birk Nielsen. There is also a discussion of aesthetics in...[more]
Romtvedt struck a chord with me and I found myself reading this fine book through in one sitting. [more]
Finally, something to supplant Michael Hackleman's aging classic Wind and Windspinners. [more]
The publisher of Windpower Monthly and WindStats Newsletter, Forlaget Vistoft, has published 1997 Glossary of Wind Energy Terms. The 100 page paperback by Paul Gipe and Bill Canter is the most...[more]
Gesselschaft für Windenergie to become the Bundesverband Wind Energie (German Wind Turbine Owners Association) since this article was written. In April 1996, the German wind energy association for...[more]
The third printing of the 1993 book "Windkraftanlagen" (Wind Turbines) was issued by B.G. Teugner of Stuttgart in the spring of 1996. The book, edited by Robert Gasch, began as course notes for...[more]
"The free benefit of the wind ought not be denied to any man." [more]
An early example of Der Spiegel's anti-renewables stance.[more]
The special topic conference was held in Helsinki Finland 5-7 September, 1995 by the European Wind Energy Association in collaboration with the Finnish Wind Power Association. For a good perspective...[more]
The book, Land of the Living, is based on Borish's study of the Danish folkehøjskol system in the early 1980s. His book is an articulate examination of Danish culture. His theme is that Denmark could...[more]
