Message-ID: <b1f_9504230101@tool.nl> Date: Sat, 22 Apr 1995 19:37:50 -0400 From: YO-YO <mailto:yoyo@TOOL.NL> Subject: Gipe's New Wind Book [long] To: Multiple recipients of list DEVEL-L
> Newsgroups: bit.listserv.devel-l
> Date: Fri, 21 Apr 1995 10:55:42 -0700
> From: Tom Gray <mailto:tgray@IGC.APC.ORG>
> For release March 27, 1995
> For more information contact:
> Dan Sayre, John Wiley & Sons; phone: +1 212 850 6024; fax: +1
> 212 850 6103;
> internet: mailto:dsayre@support.jwiley.com
> WIND ENERGY HAS "COME OF AGE," SAYS NEW BOOK
> Never again will wind energy be seen as the domain of a
> disheveled
> miller with corn flour in his hair, furling the cloth sails on
> his
> wooden windmill. This archaic image has given way to one of
> trained
> professionals tending their sleek aero-electric generators by
> computer,
> according to a new book.
> "Wind Energy Comes of Age" by Paul Gipe chronicles wind
> energy's
> progress from its rebirth during the oil crises of the 1970s
> through a
> troubling adolescence in California's mountain passes in the
> 1980s to
> its maturation on the plains of northern Europe in the 1990s.
> Gipe
> argues in a readable and engaging style that wind energy is no
> longer an
> alternative source of energy. He cites improvements in the
> performance,
> reliability, and cost effectiveness of modern wind turbines to
> support
> his contention that wind energy has come of age as a
> commercial
> technology for generating electricity.
> Wind energy has indeed come of age, say analysts who note that
> worldwide
> sales of wind turbines and wind-generated electricity topped
> $1 billion
> in 1994 and are expected to exceed $1.5 billion in 1995. At
> the current
> pace of growth, the world's wind industry will reach $2
> billion in sales
> by 1996 or 1997. This is a staggering accomplishment for a
> business that
> energy planners had written off in the mid-1980s. Germany
> alone
> installed nearly as much wind-generating capacity in 1994 as
> was
> installed in California during the height of the great "wind
> rush" of
> the early 1980s. Altogether, northern European countries
> installed
> nearly a half billion dollars' worth of wind turbines in 1994.
> Not since Putnam's "Power from the Wind" in 1948 or Golding's
> "The
> Generation of Electricity by Wind Power" in 1955 has there
> been a book
> on wind energy of this breadth and scope by a single author.
> The new
> book debunks the myths that wind energy is land-intensive,
> that wind
> turbines are inherently ugly, that wind energy will never make
> a
> difference, and that wind energy is unreliable. "Wind Energy
> Comes of
> Age" also documents wind energy's value in reducing air
> pollution, its
> positive energy balance, its contribution to meeting
> residential energy
> needs, and its effect on employment and tourism.
> The 560-page book, Gipe's third on the subject of wind energy,
> is part
> of John Wiley & Sons prestigious series on sustainable design.
> The
> series includes the award winning "Gray World Green Heart:
> Technology,
> Nature and the Sustainable Landscape" by Robert Thayer and the
> ground-breaking "Design with Nature" by renowned landscape
> architect Ian
> McHarg, and "Audubon House," an architectural model for energy
> efficiency by the National Audubon Society. Illustrated with
> more than
> 170 original line drawings, photographs, and charts and more
> than 70
> tables, "Wind Energy Comes of Age" includes an extensive
> appendix and a
> forward by Chris Flavin of WorldWatch Institute. Flavin, a
> senior
> researcher at the Washington, DC environmental think tank and
> author of
> the recent book "Power Surge," describes "Wind Energy Comes
> of Age" as
> "an ambitious, compelling, and at times critical description"
> of the
> wind industry.
> Unlike other books of its genre which simply describe the
> technology,
> "Wind Energy Comes of Age" examines a host of issues that will
> determine
> the ultimate extent of wind energy's contribution to the
> world's energy
> supply.
> For example, Gipe questions the value of centrally-directed
> research
> programs, a sacred cow of both the environmental and renewable
> energy
> communities, pointing to the failure of government research
> programs in
> the United States, Sweden, and Germany. But only the United
> States was
> wealthy enough, says Gipe, to spend half a billion dollars and
> produce
> only one working wind turbine after nearly two decades of
> effort. Wind
> energy technology came of age, says Gipe, not through a
> miraculous
> "breakthrough" in a government laboratory but by the sweat
> and toil of
> thousands of men and women in the private sector on both sides
> of the
> Atlantic who struggled to breathe life into a dormant--though
> never
> dead--technology.
> "Wind Energy Comes of Age" also critiques cost of energy
> calculations,
> cutting through the hype surrounding the 5 cent per
> kilowatt-hour
> windmill. Wind energy is cost-effective today, can compete
> with coal,
> and costs far less than nuclear power, says Gipe. But he warns
> wind
> energy's proponents against overselling the technology to a
> wary public
> who may remember when nuclear power was "too cheap to meter."
> Gipe, who has answered countless questions from a public
> fascinated by
> these kinematic devices, calls on the wind industry to
> seriously address
> aesthetics and community acceptance. He warns that wind energy
> will
> never reach its full potential without greater care in the
> design of
> wind turbines and their installation on the landscape. In
> "Wind Energy
> Comes of Age," Gipe urges the wind industry to design their
> wind
> turbines and their wind power plants as if the people who live
> near them
> matter. While engineering economy is important in making wind
> energy
> increasingly cost-effective, he says, it must take a back seat
> to human
> design criteria such as aesthetics, noise dampening, and
> safety.
> "Wind Energy Comes of Age" is the first book on the subject to
> look at
> these questions in depth and thoroughly analyze the public's
> response to
> the visual impact of wind turbines on the landscape. The book
> reviews
> the results of public opinion polls of those who live near
> wind turbines
> in California, Great Britain, Denmark, Sweden, and the
> Netherlands.
> These surveys provide the keys to understanding what makes one
> wind
> turbine more visually attractive than another, or what makes
> wind plants
> most acceptable to neighboring communities.
> Despite the best efforts of designers, and regardless of how
> quiet or
> aesthetically pleasing wind turbines are, "Wind Energy Comes
> of Age"
> warns that there will always be a percentage of the population
> opposed
> to seeing wind turbines. This is normal, Gipe says, and should
> be
> welcomed by the wind industry as an opportunity to explain why
> wind
> energy makes economic and environmental sense. He cites the
> fierce
> opposition to Gustave Eiffel's plan to build a tower in the
> heart of
> Paris as an example of how once-polarized communities can
> learn to
> accept and even cherish such artifacts.
> Gipe points to the rapid assimilation of modern wind turbines
> into the
> lives of those living near them in California and northern
> Europe to
> illustrate how wind energy could quickly become a widely
> accepted land
> use. For this to happen, however, the wind industry must
> place
> importance on aesthetics and community acceptance. He suggests
> that the
> wind industry in North America could learn valuable lessons
> from their
> European colleagues on how to build aesthetically pleasing
> wind plants
> with minimal impact on the land and the people who live
> nearby. For
> example, he charges that the U.S. wind industry disturbed more
> soil than
> needed to install their wind turbines during California's wind
> rush in
> the early 1980s. In "Wind Energy Comes of Age" Gipe says this
> practice
> has caused unnecessary erosion in California's desert passes,
> needlessly
> accentuating wind energy's aesthetic impact.
> Acknowledging that wind turbines in California's Altamont Pass
> have
> killed a number of birds, including golden eagles, Gipe
> contends that
> the problem appears localized. Studies elsewhere, he says,
> conclude that
> wind turbines, like other human artifacts, kill some birds,
> some of the
> time, but do not pose a serious threat. While suggesting that
> every
> effort should be made to minimize the number of birds killed
> by wind
> turbines, he warns that there is no way to eliminate all
> collisions and
> it is foolish to think otherwise.
> "Wind Energy Comes of Age" is also the first book on the
> subject to
> examine the safety of wind turbines, and concludes that the
> industry has
> an enviable record of public safety--it has never injured a
> member of
> the public. But Gipe advises the wind industry that it simply
> must do a
> better job of preventing occupational accidents among those
> who work on
> wind turbines, especially in North America.
> The book notes that some self-styled environmental activists,
> including
> those with ties to coal and nuclear power, have opposed the
> use of wind
> energy on spurious grounds. In contrast, Gipe says, other
> environmental
> groups such as the Union of Concerned Scientists and Britain's
> Friends
> of the Earth have organized grass roots campaigns to encourage
> expanded
> wind development. Friends of the Earth has gone further than
> most and
> issued guidelines to wind companies on how to build
> environmentally
> acceptable projects. "Wind Energy Comes of Age" challenges
> others in the
> environmental community to step from behind the barricades and
> help
> direct the industry toward building a safe and environmentally
> sound
> technology suited to a sustainable energy supply.
> Gipe is a contributing editor to "Independent Energy" magazine
> and
> "WindStats" and is on the board of directors of the American
> Wind Energy
> Association. For eight years he represented AWEA on the west
> coast and
> was the executive director of the Kern Wind Energy
> Association. He has
> written "Wind Energy: How To Use It" (1983), and "Wind Power
> for Home &
> Business" (June, 1993), and co-authored a chapter in "Wind
> Turbine
> Technology" (May, 1994) for the American Society of Mechanical
> Engineers, under contract to NASA. His photography has
> appeared in
> magazines, books, commercial slide sets, and posters. He has
> lectured
> widely on wind energy, both in the United States and abroad.
> Gipe's interest in wind energy grew out of his wish to limit
> the
> environmental effects of conventional energy sources,
> particularly those
> of coal and nuclear power. He contributed to the seven-year
> struggle for
> passage of the National Surface Mining Act, which regulates
> the strip
> mining of coal.
> WHAT OTHERS ARE SAYING ABOUT "WIND ENERGY COMES OF AGE"
> "A fascinating story, not only of technology but of the heart
> and soul
> behind it. A must for anyone that really wants to understand
> how wind
> power developed and what it takes to move sustainable
> technology toward
> the marketplace." --Carl Weinberg, former manager of R&D at
> Pacific Gas
> & Electric Co.
> "A remarkable book . . . the most thorough treatment of the
> wind
> industry so far. . . For insiders and newcomers as well, the
> book will
> be a valuable tool for understanding the development of the
> wind power
> industry. . . A decade from now it will be almost impossible
> to survey
> the growth of this industry without the platform created by
> "Wind Energy
> Comes of Age." Every chapter discloses Gipe's in-depth
> knowledge of this
> emerging industry. . . His sharp analysis of how competing
> groups have
> sought to harness the power in the wind makes exciting reading
> . . . the
> comprehensive treatment of wind's environmental and aesthetic
> impact on
> the landscape offers a guide to overcoming obstacles to wind
> energy's
> widespread acceptance. Gipe's analysis of this sensitive
> subject will
> surely blaze a path toward integration of wind energy into
> electricity
> supply systems worldwide." --Birger Madsen, Danish wind
> energy pioneer.
> A "lucid and readable treatment" of wind turbine noise . . .
> an
> "excellent treatment of where the technology stands today for
> planners,
> wind farm operators, manufacturers and homeowners. . ." The
> explanation
> of "sound power levels is one of the clearest I have ever read
> . . .
> this book will make a major contribution to the "development
> of wind
> energy in a responsible manner." --Neil Kelley, authority on
> wind
> turbine noise with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory's
> Wind
> Technology Division.
> "The wind energy field has waited a long time for a
> well-written,
> informative reference book like Paul Gipe's "Wind Energy Comes
> of Age."
> This book is a must-have for developers in need of technical
> or economic
> information, politicians who want to know both sides of the
> wind energy
> story, technicians who want a reliable reference and others
> interested
> in a well-rounded introduction to wind energy." --Torgny
> Moeller,
> founder of "Windpower Monthly and Naturlig Energi."
> "Both a comprehensive and engaging examination . . . this book
> presents
> a compelling case that by harnessing the secure and
> inexhaustible force
> of wind power, we can begin to move toward a more sustainable
> future.--Fiona Weightman, Friends of the Earth U.K.
> "Although he is an ardent advocate, Gipe has written an
> account as
> balanced as it is thorough. He understands the danger in
> overselling the
> obvious environmental and social benefits of wind power, and
> is brutally
> honest about the industry's continuing struggle to make wind
> an
> acceptable energy source to environmentalists and utilities
> alike. "Wind
> Energy Comes of Age" is the most comprehensive and
> stimulating account
> I have read of wind power's promise in the diversified,
> competitive, and
> environmentally sustainable energy future on which our
> collective future
> depends."--William Grant, Izaak Walton League of America.
> "A pragmatism born of meticulous research and wide field
> experience has
> made Paul Gipe one of wind power's most astute critics and
> most credible
> friends. He backs his exuberant chronicle with an insider's
> knowledge of
> the difficult "process" by which wind power has finally become
> practical. An explanation of the basic physics, politics and
> notorious
> failures of the business make the story a good lesson in
> design methods
> as well. This is one of the best accounts of the rise of a
> technology
> I've ever seen."--J. Baldwin, "Whole Earth Review."
> "Wind Energy Comes of Age is an essential 'soup to nuts'
> encyclopedia on
> wind technology. Mr. Gipe's long history with the wind
> industry in
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