A few weeks ago I was watching Headline News in the morning, when this commercial came on with some old guy who was an “oil man” talking about our current energy problem is something we can’t drill our of out of, and that he has a plan that will help our need for foreign oil. At the end was a website called www.pickensplan.com.
So who was that old guy? His name is T. Boone Pickens, and he is a Texas oil man who is planning for a future without oil.
So what is this great plan? Well it’s pretty simple really, Picken’s Plan wants to eliminate us from buying foreign oil, and utilize local and more renewable energy sources. Basically, he wants Amercia to be energy independent, with a mixture of renewable wind, solar and hydroelectric and non-renewable nuclear, coal and natural gas. The plan wants to focus heavily on emerging wind power technology. To quote from the website:
Studies from around the world show that the Great Plains States are home to the greatest wind energy potential in the world — by far.
The Department of Energy reports that 20% of America’s electricity can come from wind. North Dakota alone has the potential to provide power for more than a quarter of the country.
Today’s wind turbines stand up to 410 feet tall, with blades that stretch 148 feet in length. The blades collect the wind’s kinetic energy. In one year, a 3-megawatt wind turbine produces as much energy as 12,000 barrels of imported oil.
After reading the whole website, I figured that this is not some hippy, environmental, high cost dream that would never work in a real marketplace. No, “The Pickens Plan is a bridge to the future — a blueprint to reduce foreign oil dependence by harnessing domestic energy alternatives, and buy us time to develop even greater new technologies.”
A basic rundown of the plan is this: Build a “wind corridor” in the midwest, which would supply 20% (or more) of our electricity needs, implement more and better nuclear technology, solar thermal and solar panel energy, other renewable sources and coal. Shift the natural gas that we currently use in electricity production to automobile fuel. According to the California Energy Commission, critical greenhouse gas emissions from natural gas are 23% lower than diesel and 30% lower than gasoline. So it’s cleaner.
So on and so on.
What can you do? Well read “The Plan,” sign up and start letting your representatives know you are interested in The Picken’s Plan.