T. Boone Pickens unveils "The Plan" - big on wind power and natural gas
by Sebastian Blanco on Jul 8th 2008 at 10:59AM 
If you listened to or read our post on T. Boone Pickens speaking at the AFVI Expo in May, then you know that he's a big proponent of wind power and natural gas (some say he needs to learn more about hydrogen cars). Mr. Swift Boat is all over the media today because of an announcement regarding something called "The Plan," Pickens' big new idea to shift some of the $700b the U.S. spends each year on foreign oil into increasing domestic energy production. Unsurprisingly, Pickens says that wind and natural gas are the ways to go. Maybe this is what he meant when he said he wanted to be a player in the fall election.
Pickens spoke to NPR this morning about The Plan, which includes installing 2,500 wind turbines in Texas to deal with Peak oil (The Plan website says that happened in 2005). As for natural gas, Pickens says it should win as a power source for vehicles because it is cheaper than gas, abundant and domestic.
If you need a jolt of irony with your lunch today, check this out. Pickens told NPR that, "The mistake was made because we didn't have the leadership that stepped up and said, 'We cannot continue to import foreign oil.'" One reason no one stepped might be that people like Pickens invested a lot in oil companies looking for oil in foreign lands. Sheesh. h/t to Dave B.
[Source: Pickens Plan, NPR]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
GoodCheer 11:39AM (7/08/2008)
As many of you know, I'm about as big a proponent of wind, solar, and anything but fossils any just about anybody on this blog, but I have to say that T. is neglecting one point:
You can't displace imported oil with domestic clean electricity until you have a fleet of EVs, or a rapid conversion back to electric domestic heat etc.. Only a tiny fraction of imported oil is used to generate electricity.
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Ron 2:27PM (7/13/2008)
EV's are on the way. Problem is all of the combustion engines on the road today that can be converted to NG but not electricity.There are a lot of people in the business of making the components for the combustion engine that won't have work when we go to the simpler electric motor. NG is the way to go in the transition period to EV's. We need to do something now. Pickens is right. He's been right. And being jealous of the way he's made his money won't make him wrong
mikerochip 11:50AM (7/08/2008)
If a guy from the "dark side" of energy usage and politics promotes an aggressive and progressive alternative energy plan, shouldn't it be gigantic news for everyone?
I've been reading his information and it sounds fascinating.
The fact that he sees financial opportunity seems a big plus to me. While we love the little guy and support the dreamers, I'd bet Pickens has a better chance of changing our entire energy strategy than my ultra-cool neighbor who lives off the grid.
If this plan came from Al Gore would we love it?
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Wise Golden 5:19PM (7/08/2008)
Well said.
Mike!!ekiM 12:04AM (7/09/2008)
Has everyone that works for T.B. Replied yet? Or will this whole blog be about you Yes Men kissing up to the boss?
Natural Gas is a Carbon product. This is autoBlogGREEN and we are aware of those pesky fires in California, a little Mississippi flood( who knew it needed a 6 MILE wide flood plain ), and an Atlantic hurricane also in the news. Another carbon solution for cars does nothing for global warming / climate change.
Chris M 4:29PM (7/13/2008)
Mike!!ekiM: While EVs can do a much better job of reducing CO2 than Natural Gas, I must point out that substituting Natural Gas for other petroleum fuels also reduces CO2 emissions.
The major component of natural gas, methane (CH4), has a ratio of 4 hydrogen atoms to each carbon atom, but the main component of gasoline, octane (C8H18) has only 2.25 hydrogen atoms per carbon atom. That means switching from Gasoline or Diesel to Natural Gas will increase emissions of H2O and decreases emissions of CO2. Natural Gas is also the only fossil fuel that also has a renewable source.
Dave 11:47AM (7/08/2008)
GoodCheer,
That was my exact conclusion after reading his plan. He is missing the logical step of transportation that runs on electricity. His plan calls for power generated from wind (and other renewables (even non-renewables), and then states cars should be powered by natural gas. How the hell did he miss cars powered by electricity?
One thing I caught on CNBC was that he disclosed that he has a vested interest in a company that sells cars that run on natural gas. That may explain it.
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axiom 4:13PM (7/08/2008)
Maybe because cars running on natural gas are already proven, cleaner, cheaper to fuel, and popular in other countries. Cars that run on CNG (compressed natural gas), as well as LPG (liquid propane gas) are very popular in Europe and other countries.
Check out this USAToday article:
Natural-gas powered cars: Who even knows they exist?
By Chris Woodyard, USA TODAY
LOS ANGELES — Imagine paying as little as $1.25 a gallon to run your car.
Not for gasoline. Instead, you would pump a fuel that's readily available, North American-produced and virtually pollution-free. Many motorists could even fill up in their own garages every night just like they would power-up with one of the gas-electric plug-in hybrids still under development.
.....
http://www.usatoday.com/money/autos/2007-05-08-natural-gas-usat_N.htm
mikerochip 11:50AM (7/08/2008)
GoodCheer: I thought he was suggesting converting cars to Compressed Natural Gas, which could be compressed right at the houses, many/most of which have gas lines already.
Natural gas is plentiful and local, especialyl if not used for creating electricity.
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PetroZero 12:10PM (7/08/2008)
Despite the obvious note of irony, I say more power to ya T Boone!
I for one am glad to see one of the oil industries most famous tycoons state the obvious and actually get onboard with alternatives.
He's absolutely right about the fact that we cannot continue to transfer over $700 billion a year to foreign governments (soon to be a trillion). Imagine the impact to the economy if we could instead divert that money to US based industries?
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b laipply 2:47PM (7/08/2008)
You are so right! Lets stop sending our money over to nations who want us dead. I drive less and ride my bike to work. But we also need to develop our own energy supplies. Just wait till this winter when our natural gas bills go up 30%. Drill here drill now.
AlexNC 8:27PM (7/08/2008)
I couldn't agree more. While I am concerned about him blatantly ignoring electric vehicles, I am still happy to see one of the big wig oil tycoons stating what the "tree huggers" have been screaming for the past ten years. We have to stop sending our wealth oversees to these other countries. We need to spend it on home grown energies like solar, electric, coal, and natural gas. We do not need the middle easts oil. We just need to find better ways to use and manage our own energies in cleaner ways. I am so excited to see our enire nation finally starting to take this topic seriously. I just hope OPEC doesn't suddently cut gas prices back down to $2/gal and make everyone forget about our real problem - foreign dependency / wealth outsourcing.
Wise Golden 2:52PM (7/08/2008)
I'll add a third agreement to this statement. T is right on the money with the things that he is saying. Electric cars vrs. NGV's should not be a point of argument as both are far better than oil. I think that T's point is largley realistic as the price of electric cars will be very high, while NGV's need not be. I think both are needed to make the transition from oil.
Richard Durot 10:36AM (7/24/2008)
Timothy Egan's piece in today's New York Times says that Mr. Pickens said that drilling and producing more oil and gas in the USA will have no effect on oil and gas prices. I don't believe this. If this is not true I hope that Mr. Pickens will publically denounce Egan.
PetroZero 12:20PM (7/08/2008)
GoodCheer, what he is saying is that in his view, our vehicles should convert to natural gas. His plan is to use wind power to replace our current natural gas use for power production, and shift our supplies of natural gas to fuel the transportation sector.
The obvious holes in the plan are with that very point. Even though millions of homes are equipped with gas lines, the vehicle infrastructure for CNG fuel is not even close to a reality. It would take a massive overhauling of the existing fleet to make this practical.
I like the ideas of increasing wind production, and I'm glad to see Picken's putting his money where his mouth is - after all, he's 80 years old and has over $4 Billion banked. He's not hurting for cash - where I see his short sightedness, is that he fails to see plug-in hybrids as the solution to decreasing the $700 billion asset transfer. They are certainly our best hope, and far closer than CNG vehicles to reality...
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konjiki 4:18PM (7/08/2008)
PetroZero, curse you for typing faster than me! Now I sound redundant! ;-)
To your point on Boone's short-sightedness on plug-in hybrid technology, that point waqs addressed on CNBC this AM. His take was that the development of that technology was not as far along as the ability to retool cars to run on CNG, hence his push for the path of lesser resistance (and yes, he does admit to having a lot of investment in Gas and Wind)
Dude, that's an awesome name for a new energy company: Gas-n-Wind...or maybe a chili parlor, yuk yuk
konjiki 12:29PM (7/08/2008)
As I understand it, he wants to displace the use of Natural Gas in electricity generation and turn that natural gas over to the consumer for use in vehicles. What I still do not get is what the tradeoff would be...can anyone willing to go with CNG in their cars get what they need from that supply that would be replaced by wind power? If not, I've got bad news...Natural Gas prices have been just as inflated over the years as oil, and if there is a supply glut in natural gas, would it not be even MORE expensive to use in cars? Also, many people use gas to heat their homes in winter, and the price always spikes during that season. Are we prepared for that kind of fluctuation?
For austomotive, I think consistency in price should be a primary motive.
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Sasparilla 12:30PM (7/08/2008)
Peak natural gas production in the US occured in (get this) 1973 with a follow up smaller peak in falloff in 2001 (much earlier than predicted), we now import ever growing amounts of it, every year. Our largest foreign supplier, Canada, had its production peak (again not forecasted) and its annual production is now declining. The remaining large supplies are not in wonderful countries. Hmmnnnn what does this all sound like? Its price is going through the roof (because its an easy alternative to oil, so guess what will happen to its demand in the world). The wind generation is a great idea, but the natural gas idea is not - it would be just replacing one foreign supplied finite ever expensive resource with another one.
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wave54 2:25PM (7/08/2008)
Production did slip after 1973, but has come back to equivalent levels today. Current production is up 9% in the past year as a result of improved technology -- horizontal drilling.
http://tonto.eia.doe.gov/energy_in_brief/natural_gas_production.cfm
Production numbers since 1900:
http://tonto.eia.doe.gov/dnav/ng/hist/n9050us2A.htm
Imports from Canada are unchanged in the last 5 years:
http://tonto.eia.doe.gov/dnav/ng/ng_move_impc_s1_a.htm
Lots of info about natural gas on the EIA site. The US is also an exporter (about 1/6 the amount it imports) and exports to Canada and Mexico have increased about 60% in the last 5 years.
CNCMike 12:31PM (7/08/2008)
If you have a CNG car here is a company that will let you fill it at home.
I wonder if he has a vested interest in this.
http://www.myphill.com/index.htm
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