Save and Conserve

I've been reading about the oil dependency problem in the US for at least 3 years, and I don't often find new ground being covered when I read websites & the news & watch cable. That's why I am so intrigued by the Pickens Plan.

Boone Pickens is a legendary oil man who has made billions & lost hundreds of millions in the oil business over his lifetime. He is currently throwing his weight behind wind energy, investing huge amounts in wind farms in Texas. This is a lifelong oil man putting his money into renewable energy. That should show you right there that the US can't drill its way out of the current oil crisis.

No, we need something more radical than additional drilling or emergency releases from the SPR. Pickens has a novel idea that seems to fit the bill. He wants to increase the amount of electricity produced from wind dramatically. A huge increase in wind energy will free up the natural gas supply to be used as a transportation fuel, taking some of the pressure off of oil imports (dependency). If you no longer need the gas to run power plants, you can use the resource to run cars.

Interesting idea. The Pickens Plan website has more info & I would recommend checking it out. I know some will say the notion of using natural gas to power our cars is not really a fix. However, it would reduce our imports of oil & potentially buy us more time to bridge the gap over to a new way of doing things & a new way of running daily life.

As Pickens says in the video on his site, we just can't afford to transfer $700 billion each year to foreign governments & expect our economy to work well for us. We need to start changing immediately. Pickens seems like the type of individual that the renewable industry has been looking for to spearhead change. He's well known in financial & political realms. He has a pantload of money to work with (just watch his slick ads & website). He is well-respected. I wonder if he can make this happen & get the Congress on board.

Since Congress appears to be ready to finally do something (anything), this is looking pretty interesting.