July 10, 2008
Oil Billionaire Pushes Wind Power
Texas oil billionaire T. Boone Pickens announced yesterday that he intends to spend $58 million of his own money on a multimedia advertising campaign promoting alternative energy as a way of reducing United States imports of foreign oil by at least a third over the next ten years. The "Pickens Plan" will include a significant online presence, including Facebook and YouTube, as well as more traditional radio, television and newspaper advertisements. Here's the video from the Plan home page:
As reported by CNN Pickens believes that:
Our dependence on imported oil is killing our economy. It is the single biggest problem facing America today. Wind power is … clean, it's renewable. It's everything you want. And it's a stable supply of energy. It's unbelievable that we have not done more with wind.
Pickens is investing in a whole lot more than just an advertisising campaign too. He thinks that wind turbines built in the "wind corridor" stretching from the Canadian border to West Texas, could supply over 20 percent or more of the United States energy needs. Putting his money where his mouth is, Pickens' company Mesa Power recently announced a $2 billion investment as the first step in a multibillion-dollar plan to build the world's largest wind farm in Pampa, Texas.
Power from such farms would free up natural gas used in conventional power stations which could then be used to power motor vehicles. According to Pickens:
Using natural gas for transportation needs could replace one-third of the United States' imported oil and would save more than $230 billion a year. We are going to have to do something different in America, you can't keep paying out $600 billion a year for oil.
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Comments on Oil Billionaire Pushes Wind Power »
In a way it's a crying shame that someone must invest $58 million of his own money into a media campaign to do a job that should have been done by our governmental leaders. There have been accusations that T. Boone is only in this to further line his own pockets. If that's the case, well, at least the money is staying in the country rather than going overseas.
I don't suppose he's going to invest $2 billion in a massive wind farm solely to benefit mankind and with no thought of turning a profit eventually. However, as you say, shouldn't the lead here be coming from government rather than private enterprise?
Maybe the most important thing to take away from this is that alternative energy is no longer solely the province of "loony left tree-huggers". Hard headed Republican voting oilmen are now singing the same song.
Bush Pushes Oil Rigs off California - Arnie Disagrees. @ 10:39 am
[…] wonder what the Democrats make of the Pickens Plan, and the fact that T. Boone Pickens runs an energy hedge fund eponymously entitled BP […]
Seems as though the Economist reads this blog, or maybe they are psychic?
At the end of their piece on the Pickens Plan in their July 17th edition they say that:
"If Mr Pickens wants to use his own fortune to sell the general public on the idea of wind power, that is all to the good. No one can accuse him of being a soft-headed tree-hugger."