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Oilman T. Boone Pickens offers energy solution

Posted 11 Jul 2008 in energy, oil and gas

Billionaire Texas oilman and corporate raider T. Boone Pickens has put together a plan for America’s energy independence, intending to decrease America’s expensive foreign oil habit by more than a third within 10 years. We currently import approximately 70 per cent of our crude at a cost of $700 billion per year. As expressed on his site PickensPlan.com, this is “the largest transfer of wealth in human history.”

For a quick overview of the Pickens plan, read his article in this week’s Wall Street Journal. His press release lists three primary solutions to this problem:

Step #1: Using the United States’ wind corridor, private industry will fund the installation of thousands of wind turbines in the wind belt, generating enough power to provide 20 percent or more of our electricity supply

Step #2: Again funded by the private sector, electric power transmission lines will be built, connecting these wind power generating sites with power plants providing energy to the population centers in the Midwest, South, and Western regions of the country.

Step #3: With the energy from wind now available to operate power plants serving the large population centers in key areas of the country, the natural gas that was historically utilized to fuel these power plants can be redirected and used to replace imported gasoline and diesel as a fuel for thousands of vehicles in our transportation system.

I’ve spent a little time looking it over and have found a lot to like. Attempting to move wind from roughly 1% of the US electrical supply to 22% by 2020 is a bold but attainable goal. I do, however, think the portion of the Pickens Plan which relies on natural gas vehicles might be poorly considered.

But as Mr. Pickens himself says, “A fool with a plan is better than a genius with no plan, and we look like fools without a plan. That’s the way that we’ve been operating for 40 years.”

Damn straight.

I’m no expert on alternative energy sources (Future Pundit has a much better grasp on the situation), but I don’t believe a large-scale switch to natural gas vehicles (NGVs) by consumers is ever going to happen. Check out this 2002 analysis of why NGVs hasn’t caught on. Americans like their cars; they’re not fond of driving underpowered vehicles. And private industry just isn’t going to invest the billions required for infrastructure and new fueling stations as well as all the new vehicles needed for such a radical change. Besides, I’ve read numerous articles stating natural gas is more efficiently used for electricity generation than as a transport fuel. And running vehicles on natural gas doesn’t significantly reduce “greenhouse gas” emissions, either.

But a substantive plan to implement wind and solar to augment our current uses of fossil fuels, now there’s a good idea. Pickens has already signed on to build a $2 billion wind farm in the Texas Panhandle and could reportedly spend $10 billion on the project.

I still believe that a comprehensive energy policy for America needs to include increased domestic drilling and nuclear power. But when a multi-billionaire oil tychoon is willing to put his money where his mouth is regarding alternative solutions, it might be prudent to at least hear him out.

Posted by FullMetalPatriot
12th gen. American, Constitutionalist, Harley-riding Texan, gun owner & NRA member, blogger, illustrator, Florida Gator alumnus. #TCOT

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