The Pickens Plan
 

Re: The Pickens Plan
 

I'm an "OIL MAN" but.... Yeah mm hmmm and you are not invested in these now? LOL! Yes, I think alternative energy needs to be developed BUT not if it is not efficient. We don't need to prop up bad ideas just because it's alternative.

Re: The Pickens Plan
 

This Pickens fella is a billionaire, and he made his money in oil. There's a push right now to convert all the electricity generated in the USA from renewable sources. Wind generation is just one of the options on the table. Texas just approved massive funding for transmission lines to carry the electricity generated from windmills to where it's needed.

Re: The Pickens Plan
 

the plan as it stands is not workable, solar and wind wont do for cars, next, lol, dt

Re: The Pickens Plan
 

You obviously didn't watch ... what it would do is free up natural gas for cars ... a option being used on city buses, for instance .... while feeding our electrical needs

Re: The Pickens Plan
 

It would in terms of generating the electricity to power electric vehicles. From what I have seen on TV, and read about in articles, Texas is a perfect place for these windmills. They have vast amounts of basically useless land and more than enough wind to power windmill farms. My understanding is this Pickens fella is investing a billion dollars into windmill technology.

Re: The Pickens Plan
 

Pickens plan has potential. the problem is, if he gets ANY interfearance from the government it will screw the whole thing up. because all our congress can do is screw things up.

DanA is right, Pickens wants to move the electrical infrastructure to wind and solor, shifting natural gas to cars.

He also says in the short term to DRILL.

I agree with parts of the plan but I dont think natural gas is the real answer for powering automobiles.

We need to drastically change our transmission infrastructure if wind is going to be a major player. AC (alternate current) doesnt transmit well over vast distances. Wind energy is most available in areas far from most human activity.

We would have to shift to a DC (direct current) type mega transmission system that will cost hundreds of billions of dollars to create. The pain is short term, because once the innital investment is made, the wind itself is free. We still have to deal with limitations on how windmills work. you cant generate electricity below 5 knots and you cannot run the windmills in wind above about 20 knots.

there are some that are working on new wind caputuring systems that may be able improve these limitations.

the really big problem is that wind often occurs during off peak hours. there are no viable methods to capture and store wind energy (although a company in England is working on an under water energy storage method).

Solar has its issues. go to the link below ans scroll thru the list of options until you find the section "The Free-Market Case for Green." It is a five part TV interview and will give a great deal of info on where Solar is and where it's headed.

http://tv.nationalreview.com/uncommonknowledge/

The Free-Market Case for Green


Bottom line, a shift to wind/solar will cost several hundred billion dollars to make it really work. Its do-able but will be very expensive on the front end. And I am not convinced the technologies are really "there" yet. we are close but there are still issues that make them more expensive than current fuels...

Re: The Pickens Plan
 

we dont have the battery capacity to make it work, and i did watch, make assumptions about yourself danny, not others, dt

Re: The Pickens Plan
 

That would depend on your commuting distance on a daily basis, DT. I can't remember the exact figures, but I seem to remember a car getting ready to be put into production that will go 75 miles or so on just the batteries. A car like that would be perfect for going back and forth to work, depending on how far you drive.

Re: The Pickens Plan
 

wont work for a lot of people , over an hour commutes and traffice, gonna be a lot of cussing and stalled out, out of juice cars, lol

Re: The Pickens Plan
 

Well, this particular car will also have an engine and generator, so it won't be and electric only car. I am thinking it's the Volt, by Chevy.

Re: The Pickens Plan
 

well i sure hope it works we need releif badly, lol

Re: The Pickens Plan
 

For real. My main concern with all these hybrids is what is going to happen with all these batteries in a few years. Also, unless the cost of these batteries goes down significantly, people are gonna end up with nice looking junk cars after just a few years of service.

Re: The Pickens Plan
 

Tesla Motors is producing a car that they say will go 220 Miles.
cost to fill up the batteries is like $4.50

Re: The Pickens Plan
 

now that sound s like a winner ferd, i will take one, lol

Re: The Pickens Plan
 

got $109,000?

it is a two seater...

Re: The Pickens Plan
 

Tesla. Is that the Indian car manufacturer? Or is Tata the company I am thinking about?

Re: The Pickens Plan
 

Say what? For $109K it had better be as long and wide as a Hummer, include wide screen tvs, built in internet access, cell phone, On Star, Sirius, and a butler to serve me my ginger ale as I cruise down the road!!!

Re: The Pickens Plan
 

Why is wind power a bad idea?
The way Pickens explains it, it would be efficient.
Even if it doesn't work for cars, it can still provide cheaper electricity (for homes and businesses) than the current system.
Oil is a key factor in making electricity today, so if we can replace a significant portion of that oil using the already existing wind power, then that's a good thing. It would help reduce our foreign dependency on oil, and thats a good thing.

Re: The Pickens Plan
 

Sounds good if he (or someone)can make it work.

Re: The Pickens Plan
 

I really like this plan. I would be suspicious if anyone else was suggesting it, but he makes some good points. As cars move more and more to electric in the coming decade, wind power makes sense.
The weakness with wind (and solar) is the intermittent nature of it. The wind is not always blowing and the sun is not always shining. Power storage than becomes a very important technology since electricity does NOT lend itself to efficient capture. Batteries are not a good solution on an industrial level, but when used in the form of ten million batteries in cars, it suddenly all comes together! This "cloud" of car batteries makes an extremely efficient way of storing the energy taken from wind and solar.

Re: The Pickens Plan
 

Re: The Pickens Plan
 

It is efficient, but more importantly is we are dependent on foreign oil. We pay high prices for it when they pay low prices...gas in Iraq is under a 1...who rebuilds the pipe lines and refineries? We do and we pay for it.

Re: The Pickens Plan
 

This is right on! This guy is right on! WHY are we dependent on foreign oil when we have our own? Why do we continue down that path instead of REALLY looking for alternatives? Why? Because there are some extremely wealthy elitists controlling American and American foreign policy and it is hurting us big time

http://www.pickensplan.com/index.php

America is in a hole and it's getting deeper every day. We import 70% of our oil at a cost of $700 billion a year - four times the annual cost of the Iraq war.
I've been an oil man all my life, but this is one emergency we can't drill our way out of. But if we create a new renewable energy network, we can break our addiction to foreign oil.
On January 20, 2009, a new President gets sworn in. If we're organized, we can convince Congress to make major changes towards cleaner, cheaper and domestic energy resources.
To get this done, I need your help. Check out the plan. If you think it's worth fighting for, please join our effort.
__________________

Re: The Pickens Plan
 

Mayor Bloomberg of New York City has offered a plan for windmills on city bridges and skyscrapers ...

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/20/nyregion/20windmill.html

Re: The Pickens Plan
 

that sounds like a great idea

Re: The Pickens Plan
 

This plan should be persued.