Op-Ed: Oilman Urges Alternative Energy Investment To Congress

An oilman yesterday provided testimony to a U.S. Senate energy committee. In a move that may chagrin both President Bush and John McCain, T. Boone Pickens promoted a plan that was not for more drilling, something that has made him billions of dollars.

You may have by now become familiar with T. Boone Pickens. Many Democrats will probably remember him as the man who funded the Swift Boat Vets group that was prominent during the 2004 Presidential election. Recently he has been seen in TV commercials promising to unveil his new energy plan that promotes energy dependence from foreign oil for Americans. He has stated that drilling won’t solve the energy crisis. Imagine that. Mr. Pickens was in front of a Senate energy committee yesterday talking about his plan. At the hearing, chaired by Connecticut Senator Joe Lieberman, Pickens eloquently stated his three-phase plan to generate more energy for Americans. These phases are: Wind, Solar, and Natural Gas, in no particular order. He urged the American people to read his plan and pressure the government to invest in these energy alternatives. According to Pickens, the use of wind turbines in the Midwest and perhaps the west coast of America could go along way. Mr. Pickens notes that this form of energy would clearly be abundant because America has some of the best wind in the world. Fellow DJer, Chris v.(cgull) wrote an article recently about a Missouri town and wind energy. . Mr. Pickens also gave examples of countries without the abundant wind America has that are creating good energy for its citizens through wind energy. Another aspect of his plan is solar energy. I can recall learning about solar energy in grade school, and I have always been befuddled as to why there have not been more use of it. I have surely seen a number of solar powered homes in my lifetime. In the 90’s the Mazda auto company applied a solar powered windshield to power the air conditioner for some of its models. Many of the communication satellites that are orbiting the earth are also solar powered. There have to be practical applications to bring solar energy to consumers. The most surprising to me is the natural gas alternative. The United States has the sixth-largest natural gas reserves in the world. Methane is a cleaner alternative to other automobile fuels such as gasoline (petrol) and diesel. The energy efficiency is generally equal to that of gasoline engines. In the United States, use of natural-gas-powered vehicles is limited mostly to commercial and municipal fleets. Cities Such as Boston San Diego and Washington, DC have substansial rapid transit fleets. In 2004, Ford and GM halted the production of Natural Gas vehicles. They explained that the drop in sales figures percipitated the decicion to drop production. Did Americans know about these cars at that time, or was development of infrastucture for them hampered by the Bush administration and Congress? GM was only producing Express and Savana vans at the time. GM and Ford are producing these vehicles in other countries. I speculate the reason for the lack of sales of these vehicles is the lack of government initiative in a major investment towards natural gas infrastructure. This would re-open some of the plants that Ford and GM have – or plan – to close. That means jobs on one hand, and lower fuel costs on the other. There are many other uses for natural gas. Natural gas is already supplied to homes, for cooking in natural gas-powered ranges and ovens. There are natural gas-heated clothes dryers, heating-cooling units and central heating apparatus’. Home or other building heating may include boilers, furnaces, and water heaters, and. It is used in rural homes without connections to public utility services and with portable grills. Propane is the dominant source of rural gas. Natural gas is probably the answer for California’s energy woes alone. Pickens may is on to something. I like his plan and I advise we all take a look at it.