| WIND ENERGY COMES OF AGE Paul Gipe Christopher Flavin (Fwd.) New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1995 |
Rating: 5.0 High |
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| ISBN-13 978-0-471-10924-2 | ||||
| ISBN-10 0-471-10924-X | 536p. | HC/BWI | $175.00 | |
| Page xxi: | "Like any other technology dependent on a natural resource—farming, mining, or drilling for oil—mathematical calculations are only an approximation of what can be expected in the real world." |
| S/B "As with". |
| Page 34: | "...by the mid-1990s, when the fixed-price portion of many contracts were scheduled to expire." |
| Number error: S/B "the fixed-price portions". |
| Page 154: | "It is medium-sized wind machines, turbines 10 to 50 m (30 to 150 ft) in diameter that slew the giant multimegawatt turbines..." |
| Missing comma: S/B "in diameter, that slew". |
| Page 157: | The plot on this page |
| This plot's legend appears to swap the markings for stall-regulated and pitch-regulated turbines. |
| Page 160: | "The ratings of many cogeneration (combined heat and power) plants, for instance, vary seasonally with changes in air density because they use aeroderivative turbines." |
| I assume this means "derived from the aerospace industry". Gipe derides wind turbines (that is, propellers) based on aerospace technology at several places, but never fully explains why. A propeller-driven airplane's takeoff distance depends critically on air temperature; colder air is denser, providing more lift and allowing a shorter takeoff run. This could be a matter of life and death for a pilot, but it's unclear why it matters so much for wind turbines and even less so for cogeneration plants. |
| Page 203: | Gipe writes that most blades for wind turbines are derived from airfoils and therefore are "susceptible to soiling", by which he means they build up a coating of dead bugs." |
| Show me a blade that doesn't. Again, it's unclear why Gipe singles out what he likes to call "aeroderivative" blades for criticism on this basis. |
| Page 217: | "Those skeptical of the power electronics necessary for using variable speed have often wondered how much energy is lost in the electronic conversion." |
| I guess they can keep wondering, because Gipe says nothing further about this. |
| Page 221: | "Maintenance problems and costs that appear after the warranty expires are the problem of the operator; thus there is little incentive for the manufacturer to build a turbine with components designed for long life and low maintenance beyond the warranty period." |
| Unless, of course, the manufacturer hopes for referrals, or repeat business. |
| Page 232: | Caption for Figure 7.2: "Wind power plants are less expensive to operate and maintain because the fuel is free." |
| And... geothermal? (And... maintenance costs?) |
| Page 241: | "One study by Los Alamos Laboratory found..." |
| S/B "Los Alamos National Laboratory". |
| Page 273: | "In an editorial for a newsletter on renewable energy in Michigan's Leelanau peninsula, a hotbed of deep ecologists..." |
| This is not to be confused with what Michiganders call "the U-P" — the Keewenaw Peninsula. (Note the capital "P".) It is in fact Leelanau County, which occupies the whole of a peninsula on the northwest coast of Michigan proper. That's what's often called the Lower Peninsula: the portion of the state south of the Mackinac Bridge. |
| Page 293: | "Aesthetically, observers often prefer tubular towers to truss towers, however, engineers have also designed elegant lattice towers." |
| Make this into two sentences: S/B "towers. However, engineers". |
| Page 301: | "Similar warnings in the WIMP reports [...] were ignored and the site is now fully developed." |
| Missing comma: S/B "ignored, and". |
| Page 301: | "There are turbines laying on the ground..." |
| S/B "lying". |
| Page 349: | "...more likely than vultures to collide with wind turbines. Why, no one knows." |
| I'll venture a guess: they fly by day and stay high, soaring on thermals, until they spot carrion — then they descend carefully. |
| Page 352: | "Only then can they answer the crucial question: Are Altamont's wind plants threatening the population's stability." |
| Is this a question. Why does it lack a question mark. |
| Page 361: | "See, we told you they were dangerous, malicious monsters devouring our landscape." |
| The author's endnote says this quote reflects the content and tone of its source. Maybe so. What's clear is that it reflects his frustration. |
| Page 367: | "A slight breeze started the rotor turning, catching Donnelly offguard." |
| Missing space: S/B "off guard". |
| Page 367: | "Extended discussion of workers killed doing wind tower maintenance — including Mr. Ketterling in Minnesota." |
| Gipe explains every death except Ketterling's. He was killed by a chunk of ice that fell inside the tower. |
| Page 387: | "Altogether these measures reduced noise emissions by 2dB(A), WEG realized that these efforts are for nought..." |
| S/B "Although". (And probably "for naught".) |
| Page 388: | "They [...] mounted sand-dampening chambers on four towers..." |
| Clumsy, but accurate: refers to the use of sandbags inside the nacelle to damp out noise from the mechanisms within. |
| Page 394: | "...could add another 1500 h (3700 acres) to the total." |
| Units goof: S/B "1500 ha" (hectares). |
| Page 422: | "When fuel is included, coal and nuclear plants deliver only one-third of the total energy used in their construction and in their fuel supply because fuel consumption dwarfs the amount of energy in the plant's materials." |
| I question this. |
| Page 433: | "...society reveals it preference for clean air through its regulation of pollutants emissions." |
| S/B "reveals its preference for clean air". |
| Page 435: | "Trees consume about 26 lb (12 kg) of CO2 per year..." |
| Poorly phrased: S/B "An average tree consumes". |
| Page 446: | "The largest solar-electric technology in the world [...] is Luz's parabolic-trough concentrators, Luz's corporate descendants operate 200 MW of capacity on the Mojave Desert north of Los Angeles." |
| First, this wants to be two sentences: S/B "concentrators. Luz's". Second, how large is technology? Third, "technology" is singular, "concentrators" is plural; something like "Luz's concentrator plant" would work better. |
| Page 462: | "During peak development in California during the mid-1980s, manufacturers were essembling 300 to 400 MW per year." |
| Spelling: S/B "assembling". |
| Page 520: | "Independent and feisty Windpower Monthly is an unaffiliated observer..." |
| Missing comma: S/B "feisty, Windpower Monthly". |
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