science

James Dehlsen

James Dehlsen is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand James Dehlsen rather than just read about it. In short: James G.P. Dehlsen (born April 27, 1937) is an American businessman, inventor, and entrepreneur.

Key takeaways

James Dehlsen belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect James Dehlsen to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of James Dehlsen from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

James G.P. Dehlsen (born April 27, 1937) is an American businessman, inventor, and entrepreneur. He is a pioneering figure in wind power and renewable energy development in the United States and holds 25 patents.

Early life and career Dehlsen was born in Guadalajara, Mexico. His father was a Danish businessman and engineer who worked for Southern Pacific Railroad. As a young man, he served in the U.S. Air Force. Dehlsen subsequently earned a BS and MBA from the University of Southern California. Dehlsen developed a fluid lubricant called Tri-Flon which utilized micron-sized Teflon particles. He sold the company in 1980.

Windpower and renewable energy career

Zond In 1980, Dehlsen founded the wind power company Zond Systems Inc., which became the first company to commercially provide wind power to Southern California Edison. Dehlsen collaborated with the Danish company Vestas, from which Zond purchased wind turbines. During the 1980s, Zond purchased nearly all the turbines Vestas produced. As a result, "California became the birthplace of the modern wind industry." In the 1990s, Zond began manufacturing its own wind turbines in order further lower the cost of energy. With support from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and the U.S. Department of Energy, Zond produced a 550kW turbine. Zond's work on variable-speed technology subsequently enabled turbine scaling to 1.5MW. In 1997, Enron acquired Zond and formed Enron Wind. GE subsequently acquired Enron Wind in 2002 to form GE Wind Energy.

Clipper Windpower In 2001, Dehlsen and his son James Brenton ("Brent") established Clipper Windpower. In partnership with the U.S. Department of Energy and NREL, the company developed the 2.5-MW Liberty Wind Turbine, featuring advanced drive train and controls architecture. Commercial sales for the Liberty Wind Turbine began in 2006, then the largest wind turbine manufactured in the United States. Clipper's IPO on the Alternative Investment Market (AIM) of the London Stock Exchange launched in September 2005. In 2007, the U.S. Department of Energy bestowed on Clipper its "Outstanding Research and Development Partnership Award" for its "outstanding contribution toward industry advancements," including attaining "unparalleled levels of efficiency and reliability and reduced cost of energy" with the Liberty Wind Turbine. Clipper also worked on developing offshore wind power. In 2007, the company began design and development of the 10MW, 150m rotor "Britannia" offshore wind turbine in the United Kingdom. In December 2009, United Technologies Corporation (UTC) announced it was acquiring a 49.5% stake in Clipper Windpower. By December 2010, UTC had acquired the rest of the company.

Aquantis Dehlsen has worked on developing marine renewable energy. In 2011, he established Aquantis, which has developed underwater turbine technology to harness marine currents for utility-scale electric power generation. The company is headquartered in Santa Barbara, California. Aquantis has received U.S. Department of Energy grants and venture capital from Mitsubishi Heavy Industries. Dehlsen is also developing wave energy electric generators through his "Centipod" program.

Awards and recognition 1985: The Danish Medal of Honor conferred by His Royal Highness, Prince Henrik 1989: Dehlsen testified before the United States Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources in a hearing entitled, "Global Warming and Its Implications for California." 1997: Dehlsen was part of a wind energy delegation that attended the third United Nations Climate Change conference in Kyoto, Japan. 1998: Dehlsen established and endowed the Dehlsen Chair Environmental Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara. 2000: American Wind Energy Association Lifetime Achievement Award 2008: inducted into the National Environmental Hall of Fame as the "Father of Wind Energy in the U.S." 2009: Dehlsen testified before the United States House Energy Subcommittee on Energy and Environment in a hearing entitled, "Marine and Hydrokinetic Energy Technology: Finding the Path to Commercialization." 2013: Dehlsen named Power Engineering’s Top 10 Most Influential People Over the Past 25 Years

References

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with James Dehlsen

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what James Dehlsen claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to James Dehlsen before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about James Dehlsen ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of James Dehlsen

In research: James Dehlsen appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses James Dehlsen in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: James Dehlsen is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1937 births, 20th-century American inventors, 21st-century American inventors, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for James Dehlsen outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study James Dehlsen in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what James Dehlsen means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain James Dehlsen out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is James Dehlsen in simple terms?

James G.P. Dehlsen (born April 27, 1937) is an American businessman, inventor, and entrepreneur.

Why does James Dehlsen matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study James Dehlsen?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on James Dehlsen.