http://www.pickensplan.com/theplan/

That site has what I call the "PickensPlan Lite" on it. Plenty of "feel good" stuff, but way short on details. But it is not meant to provide the details, only to present an (overly) optimistic picture. What bothers me is that the average person with no insight into the energy business looks at it and falls on his knees, shouting "Halleujah, T. Boone has saved us all!"

Looking at the plan:

1. Crude Oil section - Nothing new or out of whack with this part. We do import nearly 70% of our crude oil, as well as gasoline, and a small amount of natural gas (LNG). But the tie-in to energy is not documented as it needs to be. Only 2% of electrical generation comes from burning oil, and much of that is heavy oils not suitable for much else.

2. Wind Power section - Mostly, his facts are correct, currently about 1% of electrical power comes from wind. The technology exists to provide up to about 20% (some say up to 25%) of our electrical power from wind. Above that the technology can not maintain control over the grid due mostly to the wind's variability. The technology will improve in time.

Problems with wind - As noted, the 20% cap on wind's portion of power to the grid is the first problem. Another problem is that every manufacturer of wind generating equipment is going *****-to-the-wall, and deliveries are backed up for years;current capacity can't support more turbines. Siting is another problem; people do not always want the towers where they are best suited for energy production -NIMBY principle. And the best corridor for towers is in some of the major waterfowl migration areas. Fact - the towers and turbines interfere with migration, if located improperly. Fact - the turbine blades create low pressure ares and actually burst the lungs of bats, who are part of the ecological balance, controlling insect populations. The best areas to produce wind power are far from civilization centers that use the power. That means transmission systems must be built, which the plan calls for. Here again we run into the NIMBY principle as people do not want the transmission lines on or near their properties, especially as the visual and noise pollution produced by the wind generators and the transmission lines are in the rural areas, while the majority of the power is consumed in the cities.

Pickens doesn't even comment on what type of power plants will be required to cover as "spinning reserve" for the wind plants. That needs to be addressed. Coal plants have limited ability to be used as spinning reserves as they can't ramp up or down quickly enough. That leaves natural gas, the most expensive fuel source commonly used in producing electrical power. And the plan wants to use less natural gas so it can be diverted to transportation use.

I saw nothing in the plan concerning solar power. It's way too expensive for major use right now, but will get better. We need to develop it as well as wind.

3. Replacement for foreign oil section - The site says the CNG costs about $1 per GGE (Gasoline Gallon Equivalent), but the prices I am seeing are from $2.30 to $2.90. Misleading, or is the price that volatile? Good thing is even $2.90 GGE is lower than $3.50 a gallon for gasoline!

Increasing natural gas production is causing problems already. Much of the natural gas reserves are trapped in formations that must be fractured to get the gas to flow in sufficient volume. The frac-ing is done by pumping water into the formation. It requires a lot of water. Areas that are undergoing a natural gas boom are seeing water wells dry up, aquifers depleted, and ground water polluted. We need a better solution.

The plan indicates shifting natural gas away from electrical production as wind generation increases, but still leaves out the spinning reserve problem I mentioned above.



If this plan is presented as a "solution", it fails. If it is presented as a means to stimulate conservation, and to help us wean off imported oil, it works as a meager starting point. I'd suggest a few things, though:

1. Educate yourself on what is presently being done in the R&D world by the existing electric companies. You'd be amazed.

2. Educate yourself on the various limitations, problems, and possible solutions to any plan to wean us off "furrin" oil. Don't go off half-cocked on anything; you'll likely contribute to the problem rather than the solution.

3. Look at who supports any particular plan, and look for not-so-ethical reasons why they support a particular plan. (T. Boone stands to make very big bucks from his plan as he's a major player in both natural gas and wind energy. One of his most ardent supporters is Nancy Pelosi, the California-commie-congress-critter. In 2007 she made between $100,000 - $ 250,000 from her stock in one of Pickens' natural gas companies.)

 

Dang it! Thought I stuck this in Off Topic. Hey, Moderator!!!!

 

Well, Iam not on my knees! Tell it like it is........+1 l.ray

 

Bottom line is , it will take a combination of all factors to reduce energy costs.
1) oil should be used exclusivly for transportation , as there is NO reason for heating oil to still be in use for home heating , just makes NO SENSE at all.
2) electric /electric assisted cars can be fueled from the power plant , there a reasonable combination of coal,natural gas wind and solar power would be fine , all depending on the locale of the power plant.
3) conservation in conjuntion with other plans , that make sense to consumer's would work... just don't ram it down everyone's throat.

 

Just edit it and add something about fueling your bike, and you're
golden.

 

Couple of things. I've been in Oil and Gas for 25 years. Research the proposed gas pipeline from Alaska. It will provide heating fuel for the east coast from Alaska which will reduce the demand for heating oil, which will free up diesel for transportation. Working in Colorado, Wyoming and Utah the big deal is oil shale. More R&D needs to be done and the cost to produce usable crude oil needs to drop. We have more natural gas than we need for the next century.

 

One more since I'm on my soap box. When we frac wells we do use water, acid, pressurized nitrogen etc depending on the formation. The water we use is called produced water. It is the water that is entrained with natural gas and is brought to the surface from 10,000+ feet underground with natural gas. We are not allowed to release this water into the waterways of the US so we are required to pump it downhole into disposal wells which are 2000ft deep or more. Well, we first use it to frac our wells and then dispose of it. We do not deplete the aquafirs and reuse the water several times before disposal. We also use sand in the water to "prop open" the cacks we make in the formation. We inject this frac water at 6500psi + to frac the typical formation in natural gas fields.

 

"Increasing natural gas production is causing problems already. Much of the natural gas reserves are trapped in formations that must be fractured to get the gas to flow in sufficient volume. The frac-ing is done by pumping water into the formation. It requires a lot of water. Areas that are undergoing a natural gas boom are seeing water wells dry up, aquifers depleted, and ground water polluted. We need a better solution."

Sorry Pococj, I very much disagree with this statement unless I can see some form of proof. Up here in Canada (and I'm sure it is very much the same in the U.S.), when drilling is done here, the first thing put in the hole is "surface casing", a metal pipe that goes well below the groundwater level and certainly below any fresh water wells. You then drill throught the cement that fills that pipe down to the production zone, and cement in production casing which is then perferated at your desired production zone. The production zone of even shallow natural gas wells are well below the level of fresh water producing zones.


Other than that, I certainly agree with your general statement of looking at a things with a critical eye before deciding things.

 

As touchy feely as Boone may seem, he's in it for the money.

 

I say " More NUKES...less KOOKS"