Fri 18 Jul 2008
Apparently T. Boone Pickens wants to solve our energy dependence issues…? and he thinks Wind is a good way to do it.? At right is an image of the wind potential of the world, including the “wind corridor” of the midwest.
Go to PickensPlan.org for more details of his plan.? Of course Pickens is a private investor and has put his own money into building wind farms, but the whole effort seems remniscient of Al Gore’s global warming campaign…? perhaps Pickens is thinking about his legacy as well as profits?
If you believe wind is a growth industry (which it will be if Pickens is right), you should know about a new ETF with the ticker FAN.? It’s only been trading for two weeks, but plans to track the growth in wind power by investing in ~50 companies active in wind.
July 30th, 2008 at 3:31 am
I’ve been discussing this at work recently and I’m optimistic generally and skeptical specifically. Pickens fails to mention if the natural gas he proposes to shift to transportation is actually the best use of natural gas. The gas is much more efficient in its current role in turbines than in cars and the loss of efficiency is net worse for the environment. So we’d be wasting it. Perhaps all slices of the pie aren’t just as easily interchangable as he makes it look. Perhaps he’s just unable to survive as an oil man at $140 a barrel and finds wind fulfills his need to be a wildcat.
Why not use wind to free up the nat. gas so it can be used to offset coal (keeping its efficiency) and spend more effort improving plug-in electric car range? I think the range issue can be solved in many ways. My idea is to create battery exchange stations in place of filling stations (think butane exchange).
So, wind good. NG cars not so much. Hydrogen and plug-in hybrid transport with NG displacing some coal is where I’d like to see this go.
July 30th, 2008 at 8:27 am
I think Mauldin’s last email had a good turn of phrase (I’ll paraphrase)… with all the discussion about offshore drilling, wind, nuclear, etc… I would like a checkbox that says “all of the above”.
We need it all. Get going on Wind power… as soon as we do have electric cars, that’s going to be a huge drain on the electrical grid, and if we don’t have more megawats going across the grid, we’re in for a heap of trouble.
NatGas cars aren’t the only answer, and there are plenty of shortcomings. But at least the technology is proven in other countries, and not just a theoretical “we could, if…” Detroit has its own issues staying solvent, I doubt they’d deliver on electrical before they could roll out some flavor of nat gas cars (which are already available in the US for fleet vehicles).
If you think Boone is talking his book, an appropriate question is “how much nat gas does he own?”
July 30th, 2008 at 1:46 pm
I know he owns NG filling stations. I’m not opposed to T. Boone making a dime. He could just have easily put his money into electric cars and people might be skeptical about his motives there too.
To me, it’s not as important to get to point B (point B being less oil) if point B is just an illusion of better energy efficiency. Natural gas is valuable stuff and if we waste it, as some believe using it in cars would be, then are we making things better? Maybe, maybe not. There are still so many numbers to crunch.