T. Boone Pickens Proposes National Energy Plan
By Justin Gardner | Related entries in 2008 Election, Economy, Energy, Gas, Oil, VideoIt’s called the Pickens Plan and he lays it out pretty succinctly in this video…
It’s an intriguing solution, but one that falls short when you consider getting private companies to A) build more cars that run on natural gas and B) get oil companies to rebuild their infrastructure to offer natural gas as an alternative at nearly every single station.
Also, I cringed when I heard Pickens say the following…”This can all be accomplished in less than ten years if you have the right leadership…and everybody in this country has to cooperate.”
Ultimately, I think this has a lot more to do with Pickens’ massive investment of his own in wind power. However, that doesn’t mean this isn’t a VERY good idea, and if we all could cooperate on putting this plan in action, I think we’d be in a much better place in 10 years.
What do you think?
This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 8th, 2008 and is filed under 2008 Election, Economy, Energy, Gas, Oil, Video. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
July 8th, 2008 at 1:06 pm
I think it’s difficult to get behind a guy who offers up a million dollar challenge to prove him wrong and then renegs when someone actually, yanno, does it.
July 8th, 2008 at 6:19 pm
At least someone’s leading with a bold vision that anyone can understand. Plus, I suspect that converting to LPG can be accomplished with conversion of far fewer gas station than we might think. I bet truck and car fleets could be converted with far fewer gas station conversions than 20% of existing gas stations. The payback for American society is probably less than 5 years.
July 8th, 2008 at 8:50 pm
“Ultimately, I think this has a lot more to do with Pickens’ massive investment of his own in wind power. “
I think you’re dead on target there. Even money on continuing large investments in natural gas as well.
The hole in the idea is the variability of wind power and the alck of power storage for off-peak generation.
July 8th, 2008 at 8:52 pm
And that’s not the only thing he’s trying to get a corner on…
T. Boone is ALL about T. Boone.
July 9th, 2008 at 9:04 pm
Interesting video, and I would agree that LPG makes the most sense as a alternative to gasoline for vehicle fuel. I’m less impressed with the wind power angle, as most of what I’ve read says due to the startup costs windfarms typically operate in the red for most of their design lifetime. T. Boone didn’t mention it, but that “wind corridor” he outlined has another name. As an oilman I suppose he’s used to taking risks, but setting up a bunch of tall, fragile, expensive wind generators in the heart of Tornado Alley strikes me as pratically begging Ma Nature to take you down a peg or two. ;-)
July 10th, 2008 at 10:58 pm
Let’s do this!
July 14th, 2008 at 11:32 am
Public Discussion Forum for Pickens Plan : http://www.pickensenergyplan.com See you there !
July 21st, 2008 at 9:22 am
Pickens will be heavily invested in both ends of his plan. He’s working on “showing” he’s interested in alternative energy by investing in a huge wind farm. That’s a small gamble. He’s going apolitical with the Pickens Plan (in the past he’s funded almost exclusively Republican campaigns) so he seems motivated for the common good, but he also wants a huge government subsidization to improve electrical carrying infrastructure for his wind farms. He already has the most refueling stations in N. America that offer natural gas (Clean Energy). If he can get America to switch more autos in natural gas, then his plan is complete.
The Pickens Plan may have a hue of green and be a valient attempt to reduce America’s reliance on foreign oil, but he’s not doing it for Mother Earth. He’s in it for the profit. He should just come clean and say that.