Why T. Boone Pickens Could Be the Best Hope for Wind Energy

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Over the past decade, every time federal tax credits for wind energy have lapsed—and it has happened three times—the wind industry has crashed. There's no guarantee that wind (or solar, or biofuels) will succeed on a large scale.
Here is a link that might be useful:lincenergy.us/

Jeorge of TX 4:39AM November 19, 2008

We are in a lot of trouble. Thankfully T. Boone is helping to bring national attention to the fact. We need to get off of foreign oil as fast as we can and stop the exportation of our wealth. To say that the Plan is dependent of Government support should not surprise. “Alarmingly” obvious is the fact that we have (you and I and our Government) done little of consequence about it since the Carter administration formed the DOE specifically for that purpose. “We sort a lazy’d it” says T. Boone…”but we had cheap oil”. Then this past summer he did the math…$142 a barrel, 13 Million barrels a day…yup $ 688 Billion a year, and it was time to strike.
“Well but it’s only $70 a barrel now”…correct…and it was $35 a barrel and 42% imported oil when the Carter Administration thought it might be a good idea. Thank God it hit $142. They awoke the “sleeping giant” that so terrorized Yamamoto after the Pearl Harbor attack.
We’ll need “Leadership” that is clear. What else do we need?
• A long term (10 year) extension of the PTC so that institutions, investors, and manufacturers can depend on it.
• A new electrical grid and infrastructure. The current grid is inadequate, inefficient, and old (some of it 50+ years). A new national grid has been developed by the DOE which would provide the access to the central continental wind corridor. The Government needs to provide the access.
• Legislation requiring transportation be migrated into NG vehicles for the following:
o Public Transportation
o All Federal and State vehicles and Postal
o Municipalities and Services (School Buses, Trash Collection, etc.)
o Large over the road Fleets and Carriers
o Tax credits or incent all other vehicles for any alt. energy (non-oil) fuels.
Why is the Pickens Plan poetry? First, it is all founded on technology that is available NOW as Ken Garber points to in his article. Second, it’s a giant step in the green direction. No one except Boone has suggested anything close to a 200,000 MegaWatt “super farm” in the Central US. The other day I heard him say “take to 400,000 if you want”. That’s BOLD but that is exactly what we need.
One more thing for what it’s worth. Let’s open and drill ANWR and OCS. Continuing with the “War in the Pacific” theme….It’s the perfect “Doolittle Raid” to let them know “we’re coming”.

John of MI 9:36PM October 29, 2008

its good but needs more pictures

vicky of 8:41PM October 29, 2008

Actually, Pickens wants to take the 20% Natural Gas that is going to power plants, replace it with wind, and use the 20% natural gas for transportation.
Toyota, Honda, Volvo, Chrysler, Ford, GM... all have CNG vehicles the you can order.
In addition, most of the truck engine manufactures, Cummins, Cat, John Deere, DDC... have engines that are certified by the EPA.
The transportation segment for CNG has in fact, fallen due to a lack of refueling CNG infrastructure. Except for UPS and Fedex, they are still maintaining / growing there CNG fleet size.
The Olympics in Atlanta had a great portion of their fleet changed to CNG.
It is a bridge to the next fuel.
There are hydrogen test fleets on the road currently and the tests are doing well.
Wind farms are amoung the fastest infrastructures to get on line. The hardest part will be the transmission lines needed to get the energy east and west from the central coridor.
fred

Fred of FL 1:01PM October 21, 2008

Picken’s plan promises that 20% of our energy can come from wind. The problem I see here is that other 80% he asks for. He wants it to come from natural gas, which is interesting because he’s so heavily invested in natural gas. The wind plan is a red herring to those who want to see what’s really going on. Let me give you the simple plan. It involves technologies we’ve already got. The word is “nuclear.” This will provide all of the electricity we need. France uses nuclear energy for over 80% of their power, why isn’t America?
Sure there’ll be a fair amount of debate about how clean it is, but France has proven that all radioactive nuclear waste can be reprocessed and turned back into fuel… Perhaps we should learn some lessons from the world’s leading nuclear power.

KB of TX 2:22PM October 03, 2008

The problem with his plan though is that the oil companies are already selling all of our "American" CNG overseas. If CNG is the solution then we need to pass laws to ensure it stays here. See
http://wyden.senate.gov/newsroom/record.cfm?id=302677&
What company will sell it here for cheaper if China or whoever will pay more for it?

Ray in VA of VA 7:07PM September 10, 2008

To facilitate the use of N.G.V. the cost of converting to natural gas and refueling needs to be address. Home refueling units and conversion cost need to be reduced so the average driver can afford
to choose natural gas as their fuel. Cost could as high as $10000.00 To $15000.00 per House hold. Of course commercial refuel station would this cost.
Tom Arbogast
Ohio

Thomas L Arbogast of OH 9:39AM September 09, 2008

T. Boone Pickens invited to join Independent Greens to join Presidential Ticket
For Immediate Release: Contact: Joe Oddo
703-338-0200
2008
www.gailparker.us Gail "for Rail" Parker
www.VoteJoinRun.us 703-585-0512 (c)
T. Boone Pickens invited to join Independent Greens Presidential Ticket
The Independent Greens of Virginia were the first state party in America to endorse and join The Pickens Plan on July 7, 2008. The Pickens Plan calls for building wind, solar power, and rail to cut dependence on foreign oil. Make America safer and more secure.
Mayor Michael Bloomberg withdrew from the Independent Greens presidential ballot line on Thursday. The Indy Greens have contacted T. Boone Pickens through his representatives (Sara Martin of Stratton and Associates, the political consulting firm in Denver, Colorado). The Independent Greens invited him to join their Presidential ticket to promote the Pickens Plan to cut American dependence on foreign oil.
The Independent Greens advocate building high speed, modern, innovative magnetic levitation trains. "We need More Trains, Less Traffic to make America safer and more secure, and save American lives." Gail "for Rail" Parker, the Independent Greens Vice state chair, and U.S. Senate candidate.
"We need fiscally, conservative, and socially responsible government".
This year the Independent Greens have effectively placed five Virginia candidates on the ballot for US Congress, plus put Gail for Rail Parker on the ballot once again for US Senate and an Independent Presidential candidate on the ballot in Virginia.
Election day is November 4, 2008.
Kind Regards,
G. Gail "for Rail" Parker, Vice-Chair Independent Greens of Virginia
U.S. Senate candidate
703-585-0512 (mobile)
ggailparker@aol.com
Joe Oddo, State Coordinator
U.S. House candidate in 11th District
703-338-0200 (mobile)
VoteJoinRun@aol.com
Mr. Oddo is the Independent Green candidate for congress in the 11th District.

joe oddo of VA 10:14AM September 05, 2008

We are pleased that at last something of consequence is being said about the lack of governmental leadership in excercising a coherent policy to solve our energy deficiencies.
A comprehension energy plan was indeed passed by Congress back in the waning days of the Nixon administratrion in 1973 and thus far nothing has been done to enforce it. Congress is useless and the only way to do this is keep those useles self serving clowns out of it and let the private sector do it.This can get going if enough support comes from the general public. Pickenes at least, a rich man in his own right, has started a movement that we hope will get us moving forward in that direction..
Our thought is hopefully that smaller wind units that will serve the needs of an individual home owner will ultimately be in the range of the pocket book of the middle class. We know that celebrities have some installed in their homes but it would serve the nation better if these could be acquired by the norm.

nick deme of IL 3:57PM September 01, 2008

I live in the Upper Thumb of Michigan in the small Village of Ubly. The Thumb is mostly rural with farming and tourism as the main sources of income. About a year ago, windmills started springing up in the village of Elkton, about 20 miles from Ubly and just this summer they have started springing up around my home town. My wife says they are ugly and an eyesore, but to me, they are beautiful. They more energy we can produce here in this country the better. I heat my home with fuel oil and pay on the budget plan. Two years ago I paid $112 a month for oil and last year it increased to $157. This year the price jumped to $295 a month. I am retired and living on Social Security plus what my wife makes at an $8.00 an hour job. It has already reached the point that I have had to cut back on some of my prescription medications and if the prices keep going up, we stand to lose our home. I am not the only one who is hurting. There are a lot of people in the same dire situation as me. The sooner we become energy independent the better.

Bruce Moody of MI 4:52PM August 31, 2008