December 8, 2009

Wind Energy Basics Revised: A Guide to Home- and Community-scale Wind Energy Systems by Paul Gipe

Wind Energy Basics (Chelsea Green Publishing, 2009) debunks what the author calls “the fads, fallacies, and the flim-flam” around “new, never-before seen” wind turbines often featured in the media. “As the world turns increasingly toward renewable energy,” says outspoken author Paul Gipe, “people are looking for wind turbines that work cost-effectively. Unfortunately, hustlers, charlatans, and…

Wind Energy Basics (Chelsea Green Publishing, 2009) debunks what the author calls “the fads, fallacies, and the flim-flam” around “new, never-before seen” wind turbines often featured in the media. “As the world turns increasingly toward renewable energy,” says outspoken author Paul Gipe, “people are looking for wind turbines that work cost-effectively. Unfortunately, hustlers, charlatans, and the simply inept are quick to seize on the public’s fascination with wind energy and sell them wind turbines that perform poorly at high cost.” “Wind energy works and makes environment sense–more so today than ever before–but consumers have to be on their guard. It’s buyer beware, especially with small, household-size wind turbines,” says Gipe.

Gipe, who has written several previous books on wind energy, takes off the gloves in Wind Energy Basics. He debunks several trendy so-called “new” wind turbines as well as popular policies such as net metering. Unlike his previous books, Gipe’s Wind Energy Basics concludes with a call to political action, saying that there’s no time left for half measures, there’s no time to lose. He proposes that North America aggressively develop massive amounts of renewable energy as quickly as possible following successful examples seen in Europe. For more information or to order, click here.