I don’t think it does anything to reduce the carbon footprint. How about algae produced biodiesel? If you read up on it, you will discover it is a win-win situation and it may just have a zero carbon footprint or something closer to it. Another plus–the distribution system is already in place with some minor changes.
And T.Boone has budjeted 44 million to promote his plan
I have a question or two in regards to windfarms. If private industry, and government, start throwing up wind farms all over the place this means that it’s going to take a large area of land; valuable land.
This also means that eminent domain is going to come into play. You’re going to see private companies with rich CEOs using government force to take land so wind farms can be thrown up, which of course will fatten the pockets of a few with T. Boone being one of them.
So my question is this. If T. Boone, or a clone, decides they want YOUR home, land, etc, lowball you on the price, and use eminent domain to run you out (even if you don’t want to sell anyway) would you still be in favor of the plan?
If Boone decided to put up a 100 towers across the street from you would you be irate or gladly accept it?
Eminent domain, with Boone’s money, moved hundreds of homeowners out near OSU so athletic practice fields could be put up (although one pair of guys are fighting them tooth and nail to make a point).
If they’ll use eminent domain to install some unneeded practice fields you can bet they’ll use it for windfarms.
(And no, I’m not opposed to windfarms).
It?s still amazing to me that more discussion isn?t done around deep sea current, tidal and wave power…all abundant and consistent. Solar I feel is the end game but still a way off.
Europe has a 45 mpg CAFE, they also have speed limits of 130 kph, about 80 mph.
A couple of nits: NG is mostly methane (CH4) with a substantial amount of ethane (C2H6) and traces of heavier stuff (propane C3H8, butane C4H10, maybe others). Methane, strictly speaking, is not produced by mammals, but by the bacteria that associate with them, both within their digestive systems and, uh, post-digestive.
Wind power could certainly help, but needs either an upgraded national grid to move power from where it’s available to where it’s needed, or some sort of storage (pumped water, compressed air, or hydrogen production). Plus, the windiest places are often the most scenic, and NIMBYism runs rampant.
Agreed, nuclear could be a major player, but as the system is set up now, it’s doomed to failure here. The companies cut too many corners to boost profits, which leads to nobody trusting them (especially post-TMI and Chernobyl). The NRC meddles too much with plant design, requiring large parts to be built and rebuilt over and over before a single kilowatt is generated. They should pick a few standardized designs, with standardized training, and then get out of the way. The industry has too much of a “mine is bigger than yours” mentality. There is no economy of scale in these things. They should be building lots of small (say, 200MW) units instead of budget-busting 1000MW + units. You can build and bring online small units much more easily (cheaply and quickly), and when one is down for repairs or refueling (some designs don’t need to shut down for a refuel), it’s not a crisis situation to wheel in enough juice to keep your customers up. We need to deal with the entire fuel cycle, and not burn 2 or 3% of the Uranium and discard the rest (where?) as waste. This means forcing fuel recycling and mixed fuel use (U + Pu).
It can be done. Perhaps we just need a dictatorship to force it to be done right? Perhaps we should invite the French over to show us how to do it? I predict that it won’t be done (let alone, done right), and we will muddle and argue our way into second-class nationhood.
Pickens doesn’t seem to support the Nuclear option, maybe because he doesn’t own any Nuclear power plants. There are also the oil sands up in Canada which is believed to hold 3 times as much oil as the middle east. The problem is that you have to burn 4 barrels of oil to get the fifth one out. Seems like this would be a good fit with Nuclear Power Plants. Build them up in Canada and use them to heat the oil sands so that all the oil is extracted without the increase in green house gasses.
The problem with Nevada is all the liberals in California who bought one square foot of land in Nevada so they could stop the Nuclear waste storage there. Again a logic I have trouble following, store the waste deep underground in a place that guarantees safe storage for at least 500, 000 years, or in temporary barrels in and around urban areas. No brainer to me.
Which broadcast was it that introduced him as “T. Bone” Pickens? Does he play a mean blues guitar, too?
When you can buy canisters of LNG at Walmart, we’ll have a distribution system.
Wind farms are trying to go up all over central Illinois, though there are hearings about noise pollution and lowered property values for neighbors–but since those things rarely stop mega hog farms… I have driven quite close to one of these new gigantic windmills several times and never heard a thing. I am more concerned about their chopping up migrating birds, but the large mills seem to turn very slowly compared to the little backyard generator windmills one sometimes see, which spin like hungry food processors.
To the person who mentioned biological sources of methane, and to others who may be interested, methane is emitted from cows belching, not farting. Termites emit a much greater amount of methane, worldwide, than cows and their kin. I’m not sure which end of the termite it comes out of.
Have you seen the land Pickens plans to use. Can’t see a a town, a home for miles. You can see a lot of oil wells. Take a look at the wind farms in the hills beween Mojave and Tehachapi in CA. Lots of open space and lots of wind machines!
You can grow crops underneath those windmills, as well as graze livestock! Most windmills tend to be located on ridges and most locations are relatively inhospitable. In Europe most strong winds are offshore, so Denmark, for instance, a small agricultural country, locates most of them offshore.
In the US Rocky Mountain area there are many federal lands available for windfarms.
Solar farms on the other hand need quite an area in the sunniest parts of the country.
Agree; France has one standard design and Electricite de France, the state utility overseas all phases of the process. They get a lot of their uranium from Canada. In Sakatoon, a town of about 160,000 where the mining companies are headquartered, the French government even has a CONSULATE!
Likewise, in their passenger railroads, the French use one basic design (which is continually upgraded) and delivers world class performance. French trains cruise at about 200mph and very safely!
Pickens got rich by cutting corners his whole life! I would not trust him in ANY phase of a nuclear power program! He appears to have a number of partners lined up to launch his windmill project. He is also a major investor in gas production companies. You can be assured that most of the risk will be born by others, and most of the profits will accrue to Pickens.
All of the above ! The more we integrate the use of ALL choices the sooner they will become “normal” technologies, easier to buy, build, maintain AND afford. Here’s another one related to the statement that solar costs too much ; Make photovoltaic cell SHINGLES. Yep, just as easy to install as asphalt shingles. Plug each one into the next as you go, get a voltage reading at the end of the series, and then hook up the appropriate devices at the end . From this day forward never build another building without solar panels on the roof tops. Theoreticaly it could be as common as asphalt shingles and available at every Lowes and HomeDepot.