Can't wait to see some of these on the teevee

[tommieharris91]

http://pickensplan.com/media/?bcpid=1640183817&bclid=1641831862&bctid=1651750502

For the record, I'm all for this. I can look past his aggyness and say this is smart, forward thinking. We gotta get off of foreign oil, and I'm glad he's telling McCain and Obama that they gotta get something together. I think wind and solar are the way to go, although nuke is a decent alternative too.

And completely unrelated to this news, NYMEX crude fell about $5 today.

[Sooner_Havok]

I am all for Nukes. IMHO, we couldn't build the damn things fast enough!

[mikeelikee]

I'm for more drilling offshore, in ANWR, and harvesting shale oil, exploring wind, solar and nuclear, cow dung, or anything else that has a chance in he!! of helping us with our energy needs. If Congress would just get their arses out of the way, we could solve this thing!

[Fraggle145]

F*** Congress, I always say.

[frankensooner]

I think the answer is Whale Oil!

[bluedogok]

I just wonder who he is trying to screw over this time?
...or maybe this is nothing but a cover for his attempts to steal water rights from other states to supply DFW with water.
Either way, you know there is a scam going on if T. Boone is involved http://forum.austinrat.org/images/smiles/wary.gif

[Jerk]

I know I'm just a lowly truck driver, and not a brain surgeon, but I'm telling you one thing that is a fact: wind and solar energy will not power this country...not even close. It may be used as a supplement, but if you want to continue to live a modern lifestyle with all of the great things that come along with civilization, we will have to drill for more oil.

[MR2-Sooner86]

I think nuke is the way to go, although wind and solar is a decent alternative too.

fixed

[garland sooner]

Dallas Morning News had an article on his ideas today. Linky (http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/latestnews/stories/070808dnbusPickens.3fb918a.html)


T. Boone Pickens has a plan to solve the country's $700 billion-a-year dependence on foreign oil.
JIM MAHONEY/DMN
JIM MAHONEY/DMN
T. Boone Pickens in Dallas last week.
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Replace gasoline with natural gas. Replace natural gas-fired power plants with wind, solar, nuclear and clean coal. Basically, replace foreign oil with domestic fuel without straining those resources."We've gotten ourselves in a trap," Mr. Pickens said last week in an interview in his Dallas office. "The problem is, we said, 'Send us the oil, and never mind the cost.' "

"Things were fine until the price went vertical on us," said Mr. Pickens, who calculates that, at $140 a barrel for crude, Americans spend $700 billion a year on 5 billion barrels of oil from foreign countries. That amounted to about 65 percent of total U.S. supply last year.

Mr. Pickens will kick off a media campaign today to promote his energy policy ideas – which align perfectly with his business investments. He'll spend tens of millions of dollars on television and Web advertising and will make talk show appearances along the way.

He aims to make energy a central issue in the presidential election. He'll challenge the candidates to go beyond pandering on gasoline prices to create real energy plans.
Also Online

Link: Learn more about the Pickens Plan
Tell us: What do you think about the plan

"I feel like I'm going into a huge arena and tapping on the glass and asking people to listen," said the 80-year-old multibillionaire.

Would the Pickens plan work?

Some of the smartest energy analysts in the country say the U.S. cannot stop importing fuel.

Besides, cutting oil imports wouldn't necessarily reduce the price of oil, if Americans just replace it with domestic oil. Nor would switching to natural gas reduce our dependence on foreign fuel if the U.S. begins importing more liquefied natural gas.

Still, shifting to natural gas vehicles could cut transportation costs because natural gas costs less per British thermal unit than oil does. And moving to more renewable energy and nuclear power could reduce electricity prices and cut pollution. High natural gas markets have boosted power prices, particularly in Texas.

"His idea has some merit," said Bruce Bullock, director of Southern Methodist University's Maguire Energy Institute. "I give him all the credit in the world for putting something out there. That's the kind of out-of-the-box thinking that will pull us out of this."

Of course, there are hurdles, Mr. Bullock said. They include building the infrastructure to dispense natural gas as a vehicle fuel, building new power plants to replace natural gas-fired plants, overcoming possible opposition from oil companies and politicians.

Rayola Dougher, an economist for oil lobby group American Petroleum Institute, didn't immediately jump on board the Pickens plan.

"It sounds a little gimmicky to me," she said. But she hopes the plan pushes politicians to open more areas to oil and natural gas drilling – one of the group's chief platforms.

Mr. Pickens agreed that the shift to natural gas and renewable power will take time. He isn't trying to address current prices at the pump; Americans will have to find ways to live with expensive gasoline, he said.

And he acknowledges that building natural gas pipelines to every service station, erecting more wind turbines, and stringing the transmission lines to service them, would cost billions of dollars.

But with the U.S. spending $700 billion a year on foreign oil, investing several billion in wind turbines and new transmission lines would be an attractive trade-off, he says.

The legendary oilman, hedge fund manager and philanthropist is worried that U.S. oil consumption tends to support unfriendly Middle Eastern countries. He sounds mistrustful of members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries.

He concedes he hasn't spent a lot of time in the Middle East, outside of recent trips to Iraq, Doha in Qatar, and Dubai. But he's been around the block a few times and says he knows better than most people how to solve this country's energy woes.

Mr. Pickens has been presenting his plan to politicians and other billionaires. He doesn't want to say who, but he says, "I can't find anybody that thinks it's a bad idea."

He's been promoting bits and pieces of his plan for decades. Mr. Pickens has been investing in vehicular natural gas for years and now has plans to build a massive wind farm in the Panhandle. But that's not the reason for his campaign.

"I'm 80 years old. I'm worth $4 billion. I don't need to make any more money," he said.

Instead, he said, this is about patriotism and his reputation as a man who "sure puts his money where his mouth is."

I agree with tommieharris91. This is interesting stuff.

[bluedogok]

I know I'm just a lowly truck driver, and not a brain surgeon, but I'm telling you one thing that is a fact: wind and solar energy will not power this country...not even close. It may be used as a supplement, but if you want to continue to live a modern lifestyle with all of the great things that come along with civilization, we will have to drill for more oil.
There is no "magic potion" to replace oil, it is going to take a bunch of different approaches to reduce the demand for oil. Every alternative energy scheme is going to play a part in this reduction, most need to have much development done to be in place for the future.

We need nukes for power plants, to still use coal or natural gas for the majority of electricity generation is ridiculous. Solar and wind can always be a great supplement to nuclear because electricity demand is sure to go up no matter what. More people and electric cars is only going to drive demand higher and solar/wind can be approved/built much quicker than nuclear to supplement the demand.

We are also way behind in this country on diesel for passenger vehicles, they have made up more than 50% of new car sales there for the past three years and typically get better mileage even rivaling some hybrids. Diesel fuel is something that can be easier to make biofuels (from other than just food stock, things like algae) unlike gasoline, ethanol from corn is a poor substitute. If there was more consumer demand for diesel (as opposed to professional like yourself) the prices would fall more in line with gasoline like it is in the rest of the world.

A lot of what he says is the truth, I just have a hard time taking it at face value coming from T. Boone.

[Scott D]

what they don't tell you is that T Boone is using this as a pyramid scheme to enact eminent domain over Norman and have Owen Memorial Field torn down to force OU to play games at the Rustoleum until they're forced to fold as a Public University with no home.

[tommieharris91]

what they don't tell you is that T Boone is using this as a pyramid scheme to enact eminent domain over Norman and have Owen Memorial Field torn down to force OU to play games at the Rustoleum until they're forced to fold as a Public University with no home.

Well that is his ultimate master plan. :eek:

[OUHOMER]

I think I tend to agree with his plan. It may not cure the total import of oil, but we have to start some where. can't just sit on our ***. I think the wind mill farms are smart.

I would love to be independent. Only use the grid for what I could not produce.
The problem we have now as individual home owners is the up start cost. I would love to have a small wind mill, some solar panels, and the batteries to help run my house. But from what I have seen and heard it would take my life time to break even.

I would like to convert my truck to natural gas, but again I hear it is $3000 to convert it over, but you dont get the mileage, or the power. Yes it cheaper and cleaner. I guess when gas hits $8.00 per gallon there would be a pay off.

OK rant over. osu still sucks!!

[StoopTroup]

T. Boone = PT Barnum = The Greatest Show in Stoolwater