Wind Power and the Pickens Plan

[saifan]

Just read about this. Seems like the guy is genuine. It would be pretty amazing if we could get away from our dependence on foreign oil.
http://pickensplan.com/
Why not?

[qeuqheeg222]

that old erl tycoon is just tryin to get his hooks into the next big monopoly..i dont know why -he probably be dead before peak erl occurs and till then he and the erl companies can price gouge our eyes out!!!!!!

[qeuqheeg222]

he wants to get his grubby mits on the water rights to the ogalla aquafer.....to build a pipeline to dry ass dallas texas........

[hippifried]

Hmmmm... Not a big Pickins fan I see.

[trish]

Can't say I know much about this particular Pickens. I know about Slim Pickens. Are they related? His website is[n't] really much of a plan. Everybody knows wind is [an] energy source to be exploited. Ill place[d] wind farms (e.g. those placed along the migratory routes and flyways) will do harm to Avian diversity and could as consequence have an indeterminate affect on insect populations and ultimately agriculture, insect borne diseases (such as west nile) and the logging industry (through the spread or tree boring beetles). A major flyway goes up the Mississippi River Valley in the Midwest.

[qeuqheeg222]

he has already stated that fresh water is the next oil...........

[hippifried]

T. Boone Pickins is an oil man, but his claim to fame was airline takeovers. I was never clear whether he was considered a good guy or a bad guy or by whom.

As for wind generation: It works. Palm Springs has been running off of it for decades. There's been a windmill forest in that pass for as long as I can remember. It's also a major flyway between the Colorado River & the California Inland Empire. I've seen no evidence of negative impact on birds or bees or monarch butterflys. The units may be unsightly to some, but so is smog.

[trish]

Don't get me wrong. I'm all for wind. It's clean, simple and in the right locations efficient and productive. I actually find them...well I won't say attractive...but elegant and fascinating to watch. There's a "forest" of them near a rest stop along the Pennsylvania turnpike. I've stopped there and taken pictures of them. From that distance they seemed quiet...though I was wondering if people living nearby ever hear them or complain of noise?

I['m] glad to hear there seems to be no problem with bird/blade collisions. I imagine there have been studies. When I get a chance I'll look 'em up.

[Cuchulain]

I wonder how dependent we'd be on foreign oil today if Corporate lackey Ronnie 'Raygun' hadn't yanked out the solar panels that Jimmy Carter installed on the White House roof and 'zapped' Carter's alternative energy plans?

http://www.motherjones.com/news/feat.../03/solar.html

"a yearlong investigation by some of the nation's leading scientists, provided a convincing blueprint for a solar future. It showed that alternative energy could easily meet 28 percent of the nation's power needs by 2000. The only thing that solar and wind and other nonpolluting energy sources needed was a push, the study concluded -- the same research funding and tax credits provided to other energy industries, and a government committed to lead the way to reduced reliance on fossil fuels."

[qeuqheeg222]

yeah you right cuchulain..carter was on to something with his walk to the white house after the inagural address...he lowered!!our oil consumption and big oil couldnt handle the truth so they cut the rug on the oil boom so they could buy the 80's with big daddy reagan and bush....rode out durin the pro business democrate yrs of clinton-who allowed all of those big oil mergers and now this shit with bush milkin the drill!!drilll!!!drill bullshit till we hit peak erl.....take a look at how computer tech has evolved since the early 80"s..now imagine if that much R+D money had gone to solar during a second carter administration???