Rev. Erudite Redneck, B.S., B.S., M.A., M.Div.

T-Boone Pickens is a self serving old fart and I wouldn't trust him in any way, shape, or form. After his Swift-Boating of Kerry, his creds went from zero into the two digit minus category.

Wind is not without drawbacks. Raptors are killed by them, as well as bats. Right now they are built without adequate regulations to protect these species. Killing off multiple bats could be a most serious outcome in the Western States in particular. Less bats = mucho bugs.

Also wind power is local power, it has a short transmission range before it becomes uneconomical.

Much cheaper to transport fuel to a generation site to make electricity than it is to transport electricity from the generation site to a long distance consumer. Unless....

Unless we had a modern power trade/transmission matrix. If we could modernize our power transmission infrastructure we could SAVE 30% or more of the energy we use to move electricity from place to place. If we could "revolutionize" the transmission process we might double the available electric power.

Electric power transmitted through super cold pipelines for example.

T-Boon's Plan? Well T-Boone's plan is to sell you some windmills and then sell you his inflated priced liquefied or compressed natural gas. Yep, when T-Boone Pickens talks, nobody should listen.
 

Sigh.

Here's an idea: Let's not do a damn thing. Just use it all up. Then go back to the stone age.

I don't give a damn what Boone has done or not done in the past. I don't give a damn how much money he might make of this deal.

Self-serving? Maybe. But he has given fricking gozilllions to Oklahoma State, for athletics AND academics.

I'm giving him an ear. And heck, if he does something with an IPO, maybe I'll invest myself.
 

ER,

I'm with you. To me, too many people are sitting around wanting to play the blame game (Congress and the president) and not wanting to do anything that would actually solve the problem.

It's kind of like the newspaper industry: Jesus H.C. do something! Don't just sit around and whine about it!

Democrats blame the oil companies. Republicans blame lack of drilling. They blame each other and their "special interests" (translation: the people who give us campaign contributions are good people, the other guy's contributors are "special interests")... If I hear Obama and the Democrats or McCain and the Republicans talk about the other party's special interests anymore, I'm going to puke.

I live in Florida now, but the Okie in may raised eyebrows here when I said, "Drill that mofo" on the offshore drilling. Get me some West Texas and Okie rednecks, give 'em some tools and tell 'em to find that damn oil.

And then find a new source. Find a way to encourage American ingenuity to work toward an alternative renewable energy source.

We should treat this like a national security concern, much in the manner we chased after the atom bomb or panicked during the space race.

/rant
 

I loved the video. Very clever.
 

T Boone Pickens may be a self-serving old fart but at least he's saying there's a problem -- fossil fuels are a finite resource, and it's time we admitted it.

The problem I have with his proposal is it perpetuates the model of humongous centralized power generating stations when it would make more sense to decentralize, i.e., do more small scale solar and wind generation so the overall power grid is less vulnerable to disruptions. Not every suburban house could (or should) have a windmill, but solar panels are a different story. Depending on time of day and time of year, a homeowner might be feeding power into the grid or drawing from it. Ditto factories, shopping malls, you name it. It's doable, but definitely doesn't fit the paradigm Pickens functions in, which is essentially that one entrepreneur gets rich and the rest of us pay.
 

ER said:
"Here's an idea: Let's not do a damn thing. Just use it all up. Then go back to the stone age."

Whose saying that? I said be more efficient with what we have. TBP is promising something he can't deliver.

and:"I'm giving him an ear. And heck, if he does something with an IPO, maybe I'll invest myself."

I watched a buddy drop $18,000 to TBP's schemes in the late 70's. So, go for it bro.

As we get further into our need charlatans will breed like flies.

Wind is good, but only has an economical range of a few hundred miles with the current inefficient grid. The west is filling up with windmills as we speak.

Nan said: "T Boone Pickens may be a self-serving old fart but at least he's saying there's a problem -- fossil fuels are a finite resource, and it's time we admitted it."

T-Boone Pickins should know about the problem. He helped create it.

ER: " ...don't give a damn what Boone has done or not done in the past. I don't give a damn how much money he might make of this deal."

Sigh. So be it...
 

Well, I do not begrudge the rich. I'd like to be rich some day, myself.
 

What does rich have to do with it?