T. Boone Pickens, the wealthy Texas oil man, has a plan to reduce or eliminate America's dependence on foreign oil. Perhaps you have seen the ads that he is running on TV. Pickens is estimated to be worth $3 billion, which according to Forbes makes him the 117th richest person in America.
The plan sounds wonderful. It moves America's oil dependent energy usage to wind power and natural gas. The plan compares United States wind power potential to Saudi Arabia's oil production. "The United States is the Saudi Arabia of wind power." The plan that is touted online is basically an overview and doesn't delve into specifics like how the energy will be transported from the wind farms to the consumer. Or how all of the current gas stations will be converted to natural gas dispensers. Not minor details for sure.
The worrisome parts of Pickens' Plan are the potential destruction of native floral and fauna while constructing the massive wind farms and transmision lines and that Mr. Pickens has a substatial investment in wind power that dates back to at least June 2007 when he announced that intended to build the world's largest wind farm.
In an August 2007 Electric Reliability Council of Texas filing, Pickens indicated that his project would be 200,000 acres and consist of 2,700 turbines.
5 comments:
I can understand someones perspective, about destroying the local wildlife and such. But, if we continue to place our dependancy for oil on other countries, that really dislike us, what good is that either. I think we have to start depending on ourselves, even if some of it isnt 100% optimal.
T.Boone is an oil man. Make no bones about it. He is taking his billions and creating a wind farm to create electricity. At least give him E for effort in trying something that will be utilized by millions!
Ahhhh I've seen those commercials lately and wondered what stake he had in it. I guess he's not being as altruistic as he is trying to make it appear. I also agree that we need to find other forms of energy and not be dependent on oil. But I think it will take a combination of wind, solar and electricity.
Wind generation is one form of energy that we need to utilize, but it will take so much more than that. Solar, Nuclear, opening drilling in the Atlantic and Pacific before someone else gets to it, and yes, drilling in Alaska as well (for the future). We face a very grim future if we do not change the way we live, so cutting our dependency on ANY oil is also extremely important!
Really.
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