Oil man and wind mill proponent T. Boone Pickens agrees with the GOP plan to drill for our own oil right here at home. In fact, he says, and I quote, 'Drill, drill, drill.'
Those were the magic words to get me to take a new look at the Pickens' energy plan.
Pickens, of course, believes that the key component of his plan is to harness wind energy by building wind turbines in numerous places across the country. I have spoken at length many times about my problems with such a plan.
However, I do believe that harnessing wind energy is part of the overall solution.
But it is Pickens' proposal to shift from gasoline to compressed natural gas that has caught my attention.
The U.S. possesses rich natural gas resources that could provide power for many years to come, particularly with regard to autos. Compressed natural gas, or CNG as it is called, is easily accessible, easy to make available to the consumer, and much cheaper than gasoline--40% cheaper to be exact.
CNG could be a very effective, low-cost way to bridge the gap between oil and new technologies that will make hydrogen fuel cell and electric autos more feasible in the future.
It is for this reason that I can get behind the Pickens plan, with some reservations about the wind-mill aspect of the proposal.
The Pickens plan is certainly worth a try. Let's get to work on that natural gas, and let's get drilling in our oil reserves off the coastal areas and in ANWR.
Thursday, September 04, 2008
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3 comments:
If the use of CNG for automobiles becomes ubiquitous, the price will soon reach parity with that of gasoline. Not a reason to not do it, just a not a reason to do it.
The fact that we have the world's largest reserves of natural gas is the most compelling reason to do it. There are some serious safety concerns involved, though that will require a lot of study. Any crash could become a human incinerator for everybody even close. That is something that needs to be dealt with.
I think I would prefer nuclear powerhouses, CNG power generating stations, clean coal fulidized bed power generating stations, wind generators for all stationary power generations and drill, drill, drill for petroleum for transportation uses until such time as safety and feasible economic concerns are met for alternatives.
just my two cents.
Good insight! Safety is always a major concern and hurdle when developing new technologies. And this is precisely why 'drill here, drill now' is so vitally important, along with nuclear power, as you say.
Also, something I left off the list that would free up a whole lot of oil for diesel fuel and further refining to gasoline and lubricants etc. is that CNG could replace all the home oil heating units that are so prevalent in the far north and northeast.
No more, "A harsh winter is expected this year and therefore more oil stocks will need to be reserved for home heating oil, thus driving up prices at the pumps and requiring even more imports of foreign oil".
A comprehensive program such as this in addition to what has already been said would reduce our need for foreign oil to nothing or almost nothing. Whereby the option would be ours whether to buy it or not. Especially when the price is lowered at the wellheads to entice us to continue purchasing.
However, we must be careful to not outsmart ourselves again. The last time we scared the world that we were going to develop our own resources the producers dropped the price precipitously and achieved the intended effect. We started buying their product at an accelerated rate and shelved our development plans, eventually morphing into "green concern" where even an attempt at self-reliance is now outside the law.
Regardless of the low price incentives we are offered if we again signal the world that we will pursue our own resources, even if avail ourselves of their product, we must not again shelve our plans to produce our own energy. If we do avail ourselves of same, buy low, sell at an increased markup to be invested in infrastructure that eliminates our need for foreign sources. As each unit comes on line we will then have the option of continuing to purchase as long as it is economically feasible while holding our developed resources in reserve, or as in nuclear power, etc. our demand will naturally be lowered even at the reduced price.
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