Has anyone read the Pickens Plan?

[gardengirl72]

I am dying for reaction to the much hyped Pickens Plan.

www.pickensplan.com (http://www.pickensplan.com)

Patti

[plantoneonme]

I think his plan has some merit but am afraid American's are not ready to accept the situation we are in. I see and hear ads for us to consum more and more...the newest phones, bigger, better cars, larger fancier tv's etc. all the while hearing buy less, save electricity...what kind of messages are we actually getting. How many people do you know who are willing to pay more for electricity? Wind power does cost us more now.

I for one am looking for more and more ways to save energy but really do not believe most people (at this point) are doing the same. I could do more if I HAD to but there are still certain conveniences I am not willing to give up (again at this point). We do not air condition our home unless temps are above 78 degrees (up from 72), but we have been unwilling, so far, to turn off the air all together.

I think another consideration is nuclear power. We have the capability now to produce more but with environmental concerns do not. How far are we willing to go to be able to have power to fuel our "toys"? With nuclear power we could easily all have electric cars...do we really want them?

I am hoping that in the very near future things like windpower will be in "our" consumerism grasps. I would love to have a clean source of electricity that will not produce harmful effects to our environment like nuclear does. But then again, I have seen reports where people don't want them in their backyards either because they are "ugly"...wish I had an answer.

[gardengirl72]

My instict is this is just a new way to get money from the Government to subsidize big energy in exploiting our environment, hidden behind the goal of wind power, which won't get the federal money because the natural gas component will take all the money.

Thoughts???

[Ani]

I like the plan. It's not perfect, but it's a great start. If we need to wait for the government to make changes, it is guaranteed to be to little too late. Businesses and private investors are really our only shot for rapid change.
I don't really see the plan as a way to get money from the gov't. He has put so much of his own money into this. I'm sure he counts on making a return, and why shouldn't he? But I don't see him getting back 2 billion from the fed specifically.

I do hope people are ready for it. We need big change *fast*. My state has a thriving clean power program with almost no advertisement, so I think there really are enough people out there searching for ways to do better. Clean power is any easy one because you sign up once and don't think about it again. We pay roughly 9$ a month additional to get our power from wind, solar, and low impact hydro -- pretty reasonable and most people can afford that with little sacrifice.

[kinnisoj]

Mr.pickens should be our Sec. of Energy. He's been there,he's done that .He knows his stuff. We have had safe nuclear powered ships in the US navy for years. We have had safe nuc. power plants in the usa for years. We have more Natural Gas under our feet in this country than we can use at this point. Natural gas fired power plants are here and safe. We can power our cars and trucks with it...SAFELY. (let me say that agin we can power that big ole SUV in the driveway with it). We have the tech. to use coal safe and clean. The nation has HUGE amounts of coal. We have massive untapped oil reserves off shore. Just off the shore of Florida is supposed to be a massive pocket of oil,but we cannot tap into it for fear of enviromental damage. But we stand by while Russia aids CUBA in drilling for it with horizontal drilling technology. And we all know Russia safety record.....Im sure if anything goes wrong they will be all over it. Take a moment and look up super deep oil wells that Russia has drilled (over 40,000 feet deep) up by Alaska. Their engineers have not yet been able to determine how much oil is down there, but they know it is massive.
And my stars dont get me started on wind power. We should be growing wind mills like I grew weeds last year. They work,they are safe and when their up nobody can take them away from us... but the only problem with this all is nobody wants it in their backyard, but they sure like that warm house,cheap gas and hot shower in the morning.
As far as what I do to prepare my children? Well I hope one of them will get into the energy feild. We need fresh ideas from the kids. I teach them gardening and self reliance as much as I can but growing tomatoes only goes so far. We are a energy country that will show the rest of the world how to do it cleaner, faster and safer,with the guidance of our engineers of today and the children of tommorow.
Somebody get me a tylenol :eek:

[rdsaltpower]

From what I read this week, Pickens has put the wind farm on hold due to the finincial meltdown. He also lost a ton of money on the market. He said he would wait and see what the Obama adm. does on alternatives next year. I am from a coal producing state and work in a coal related business, but I believe we need to clean up the coal fired power plants and implement clean coal tech. We have several wind farms in my state with several more trying to get approval. Believe it or not the two major enviro. groups here are split on wind power. One fully supports it and the other has actively organized other groups to fight the permitting process. They claim it ruins their "vista".
I think the energy problem needs to be attacked by using a mix of wind, solar, clean coal and nuclear and gas. That way all of our eggs aren't in one basket. I guess we will see after January.

[clean and green]

He is a very good businessman. As for the plan, I couldn't actually find it on the website but I'll vote for it anyway.

[Computer Cowboy]

There's absolutely nothing wrong with the concepts or the science behind the Pickens Plan. If you add in the rather astonishing solar developments which have been moldering on the back shelves of Sandia Lab for forty years, energy independence could have been a reality a long time ago.

My cynical brain tells me, however, that we haven't solved, and maybe can't solve, the real problems: greed and power. Far too many influential individuals and corporations benefit from the current scheme, and neither the Pickens Plan nor any other alternative energy plan assures them that they'll be supported in a style to which they've become accustomed.

It's hard to see where the heavy-hitting lobbyists would come from to give Pickens the support needed to make this happen.

I hope I'm wrong.

[ckcommunitygardens]

Julian Darley wrote a book called High Noon for Natural Gas. Given Picken's plan is heavily dependent upon Natural Gas it seems unlikely it will work. Natural gas peaked in North American almost a decade ago and has been in decline since it does not seem a viable option for a low energy future.

[mos6507]

Natural gas may be poised for a second wind due to shale gas. Google it. I am not a fan of fossil fuels in any way. It's very much a two-edged sword considering how utterly dependent we are on them for our very lives, natural gas in particular being the main feedstock for nitrogen fertilizer.