Posted on 07/28/2008 12:08:49 PM PDT by JZelle
If you watch cable TV, chances are you've seen an ad promoting T. Boone Pickens' plan for reducing the vast sums we're spending on imported oil.
Hearts quickened in the Democratic Party because Mr. Pickens says in the ad: "this is one emergency we can't drill our way out of." That's what Democrats say when they block drilling off our coasts and in Arctic National Wildlife Reserve. But the budding romance cooled when Mr. Pickens made it clear he supports lifting those drilling bans.
Mr. Pickens' plan has two key elements. The first is to build a massive series of wind farms on the Great Plains. The second is to convert most motor vehicles in the U.S. to run on compressed natural gas.
Mr. Pickens is putting his money where his mouth is. He's investing $2 billion into developing the largest wind farm in America, near the Texas Panhandle.
The Energy Department estimated in a study released in May that there are 18,000 square miles of good wind sites in the United States. If 142,060 towers of 1.5 megawatts were placed on those sites, they could produce 20 percent of the electricity we need, DOE said. With a $1.2 trillion crash program, we could produce that much electricity from wind in 10 years, Mr. Pickens asserts.
But to get to the 20 percent figure, DOE assumed we'd use less electricity than we actually do, said science writer Eric Rosenbloom. And DOE assumed all the wind turbines would be running at rated capacity. Studies in Europe indicate wind turbines there run, on average, at less than 20 percent of rated capacity. This is mostly because the wind isn't always blowing. And the buildup of dead bugs can cut maximum power generated by a wind turbine by up to 50 percent.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtontimes.com ...
Stick the haloed one on that Texas prarie, let him start one of his messianic pontifications, and Pickens will have all the wind he needs to light up Dallas and Fort Worth.
How do we get that natural gas out of the ground? With a straw?
I’m holding my breath until they release the exotic matter that will save the day!!!
I don't watch cable TV. I don't have cable TV. I don't watch any TV, for that matter. So I've never seen Pickens' stupid self-serving ad.
Since we already cannot meet our existing Natural Gas Demand, this sounds like a need for more Drilling. Or is trading oil imports from OPEC to Natural Gas imports from Qatar and Russia a good thing?
Pickens may be on the right track. The country needs direction on energy alternatives, along side oil.
Wind blades kill rapters, and are “unsightly”. Thus, most enviros hate them. In comparison, safe oil and nuke looks great.
The problem is the enviro movement currently is in grid-lock, and can not agree on any plausible technology, other than conservation.
During the night (Midnight-early morning) wind works like a beaver -— when you have the lights turned off!
What gives?
I smell a hornswaggle! The Winds of...Gore $14,800,000.00+ X 12 X Forever X Forever
The designated area he wants to put them in is basically Tornado Alley. What happens to the grid when a twister takes a half a dozen or so windmills out?
I think Pickens wants NG drilling. Areas in Louisiana and in Western NY,down thru Pa. Ohio, W.V. and KY seem to possess enormous levels of NG. The best thing is that none of it lies under federal land.
How about instead we use the natural gas to generate electricity, along with nuclear, and switch most motor vehicles in the U.S. to plug-in hybrids?
What gives?
Since those monstrosities will all be located in 'fly-over country', the lame left and its MSM accomplices don't care. It's not like they're going to be placed off the coast of teddy's estate or some other important place.
Don't know if the article mentions this, but he's also putting his mouth where his money is. He owns the company that specializes in fueling CNG vehicles.
CNG is an excellent residential fuel, and Honda sells a kit so that you can refuel your CNG Civic at home. It doesn't have as much energy as gasoline and the tank limits tange to roughly half of a gasoline fueled vehicle.
We have a great abundance of energy but the Demonic-rats and the environmentalists (the new home of socialists and Marxists) have blocked the use of our national energy resources. They do this not in ignorance but with malice. They are trying to destroy our great nation.
CNG is an excellent residential fuel, and Honda sells a kit so that you can refuel your CNG Civic at home. It doesn't have as much energy as gasoline and the tank limits tange to roughly half of a gasoline fueled vehicle.
There was a big push for this back in the early '90s. We ran dual-fuel vehicles in our work fleet back then. Columbia Gas had a CNG refueling station in Columbus.
IMO, the CNG ran better for vehicles doing lots of slow, stop and go driving.
In the early '90s, I recall the CNG vehicle tanks were claimed to be significantly safer than the gasoline tank we use every day.
Pickens does nothing unless it makes him money.
After all the companies he raped in the 80’s (along with Icahn and the other raiders) anyone who thinks otherwise is naive. If he gave a damn about this country he wouldn’t have wrecked so many firms in pursuit of personal gain.
I would trust the Clintons before I would trust Pickens.
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