Have you heard about the Texas Oil Tycoon T. Boone Pickens?
http://www.pickensplan.com/
It's making a big splash over here in the USA. Your comments and observations welcome!
I wonder what shares Mr Pickens owns
looks like you lot should go back to riding horses and wagons
its a good effort he's making, $700 billion dollar a year can break a country.
It's far too simplistic a rationale he is putting forward! There really is no depth to his proposition but then I guess this is aimed at the
'average' Septic (American)
Of course the overall plan is simplistic. So was the idea to send a man to the moon. The devil is always in the details. But when Kennedy proposed to
a nation in the early 60's that we send a man to the moon and do this, that and the other thing, he was not pressed to lay out the details of
that plan at the exact moment he said it! You see, this is EXACTLY the kind of negative attitude that prevents people (or nations) from accomplishing
anything big. Well you should know by now that historically the USA is capable of accomplishing BIG things, and if that specific BIG thing is to
achieve energy independence (or at least stem the bleeding to a great extent) then you should put your money on the USA!
It appears to me, that in the eyes of the world America is a place where malaise has set in and nobody wants to do anything positive. You sirs are
wrong. You see, on the one hand we are energy hogs, we are using the worlds resources at a vast and fast rate. Strike one: Well, it IS a huge country
with vast distances and a feeling of largeness and individuality to it. This will never change. Strike two: we use too much energy. Right! Point
taken. Strike three: We have an option presented to us whereby we can reduce our global energy footprint, and save the environment in some way and
instead of lauding that idea as heroic, the common thread is how much money will Mr. Pickens make, and that we Americans are septic! Holy f-ing krist!
What does that have to do with the overall plan? You lot are unbelievable! You may live in a SOCIALIST country but the USA is a CAPITALIST country. If
Mr. Pickens wants to turn a couple of billion bucks his direction for taking us into wind and natural gas produced locally which stops the flow of
700BILLION$ a YEAR to the middle east and Venezuela, then you will find me with my wallet open and addressing him as SIR! Did you even bother to
research the plan at all? Mr. Pickens does not own the entire wind corridor from Texas to North Dakota. It's a seed idea and he is willing to
take a risk to try to change the world in a good way. A good way mind you!
What is WRONG with you people. Have you no ability to dream anymore?
I think you know where I stand on this. Go ahead you sophisticated Brits and shoot me down as the naive American. 
Steven Graber
An American Dreamer
wasn't the moon thing a fake? I heard it was done on a kitchen table with some plastic models 
There will be so many windmills over the US, the drag will cause the whole country to capsize into the ocean
Well... I'm with you Steve, being a graduate of Energy Engineering I have both a financial and engineering based outlook on energy proposals, to
me what he is suggesting makes sense in both camps.
In the UK we are that sophisticated that our government comissioned the UK Atomic Energy Authority to produce a report on a wave energy proposal by
Professor Steven Salter known as Salter's Duck. Unsurprising enough the UKAEA completely panned the proposal and even had the cheek to tell him
that "he was not paranoid, we are out to get you" only now 20 odd years later would such a propsal be given serious attention.
We have to change, an I for one would welcome a policy shift by the USA
America is using vast quantities of the worlds energy but changing to wind power etc, although will stop americas dependence on other countries for its energy, probably won't help beat back climate change as other developing countries start to pollute more and more as they develop. We may be able to harness the wind, water and sun but we won't be able to stop pollution form other countries. Thats a good first step though. Planting a seed takes time and perseverence. It took 10 to 15 years for the gov to convince Northern Ireland that drink driving was seriously bad for yours and others health!! How long will it take to change peoples attitudes to energy consumption?
It's obvious that if America shifts energy production towards renewable sources that there will be many nations that will relish the ability to
suck up the more readily available dino-crude.
Doing this will put our already crippled economy at an even greater disadvantage for decades to come. But that is the price one has to pay sometimes.
If you are not short-sighted and can see the big picture, once we get out of this mess the USA will be tooled up for the future unlike countries that
simply stay the course.
I do hope that partisan politics and fear do not prevent this plan from becoming a reality. As in the UK, the USA political system and media reporting
system have both been broken for quite some time.
quote:
Originally posted by quinnj3
America is using vast quantities of the worlds energy but changing to wind power etc, although will stop americas dependence on other countries for its energy, probably won't help beat back climate change as other developing countries start to pollute more and more as they develop. We may be able to harness the wind, water and sun but we won't be able to stop pollution form other countries. Thats a good first step though. Planting a seed takes time and perseverence. It took 10 to 15 years for the gov to convince Northern Ireland that drink driving was seriously bad for yours and others health!! How long will it take to change peoples attitudes to energy consumption?
quote:
Originally posted by sgraber
Of course the overall plan is simplistic. So was the idea to send a man to the moon. The devil is always in the details. But when Kennedy proposed to a nation in the early 60's that we send a man to the moon and do this, that and the other thing, he was not pressed to lay out the details of that plan at the exact moment he said it! You see, this is EXACTLY the kind of negative attitude that prevents people (or nations) from accomplishing anything big. Well you should know by now that historically the USA is capable of accomplishing BIG things, and if that specific BIG thing is to achieve energy independence (or at least stem the bleeding to a great extent) then you should put your money on the USA!
It appears to me, that in the eyes of the world America is a place where malaise has set in and nobody wants to do anything positive. You sirs are wrong. You see, on the one hand we are energy hogs, we are using the worlds resources at a vast and fast rate. Strike one: Well, it IS a huge country with vast distances and a feeling of largeness and individuality to it. This will never change. Strike two: we use too much energy. Right! Point taken. Strike three: We have an option presented to us whereby we can reduce our global energy footprint, and save the environment in some way and instead of lauding that idea as heroic, the common thread is how much money will Mr. Pickens make, and that we Americans are septic! Holy f-ing krist! What does that have to do with the overall plan? You lot are unbelievable! You may live in a SOCIALIST country but the USA is a CAPITALIST country. If Mr. Pickens wants to turn a couple of billion bucks his direction for taking us into wind and natural gas produced locally which stops the flow of 700BILLION$ a YEAR to the middle east and Venezuela, then you will find me with my wallet open and addressing him as SIR! Did you even bother to research the plan at all? Mr. Pickens does not own the entire wind corridor from Texas to North Dakota. It's a seed idea and he is willing to take a risk to try to change the world in a good way. A good way mind you!
What is WRONG with you people. Have you no ability to dream anymore?
I think you know where I stand on this. Go ahead you sophisticated Brits and shoot me down as the naive American.
Steven Graber
An American Dreamer
quote:
Originally posted by carpmart
quote:
Originally posted by sgraber
Of course the overall plan is simplistic. So was the idea to send a man to the moon. The devil is always in the details. But when Kennedy proposed to a nation in the early 60's that we send a man to the moon and do this, that and the other thing, he was not pressed to lay out the details of that plan at the exact moment he said it! You see, this is EXACTLY the kind of negative attitude that prevents people (or nations) from accomplishing anything big. Well you should know by now that historically the USA is capable of accomplishing BIG things, and if that specific BIG thing is to achieve energy independence (or at least stem the bleeding to a great extent) then you should put your money on the USA!
It appears to me, that in the eyes of the world America is a place where malaise has set in and nobody wants to do anything positive. You sirs are wrong. You see, on the one hand we are energy hogs, we are using the worlds resources at a vast and fast rate. Strike one: Well, it IS a huge country with vast distances and a feeling of largeness and individuality to it. This will never change. Strike two: we use too much energy. Right! Point taken. Strike three: We have an option presented to us whereby we can reduce our global energy footprint, and save the environment in some way and instead of lauding that idea as heroic, the common thread is how much money will Mr. Pickens make, and that we Americans are septic! Holy f-ing krist! What does that have to do with the overall plan? You lot are unbelievable! You may live in a SOCIALIST country but the USA is a CAPITALIST country. If Mr. Pickens wants to turn a couple of billion bucks his direction for taking us into wind and natural gas produced locally which stops the flow of 700BILLION$ a YEAR to the middle east and Venezuela, then you will find me with my wallet open and addressing him as SIR! Did you even bother to research the plan at all? Mr. Pickens does not own the entire wind corridor from Texas to North Dakota. It's a seed idea and he is willing to take a risk to try to change the world in a good way. A good way mind you!
What is WRONG with you people. Have you no ability to dream anymore?
I think you know where I stand on this. Go ahead you sophisticated Brits and shoot me down as the naive American.
Steven Graber
An American Dreamer
Blimey, thats a 'tetchy' post!
America (rest of world too) needs to move to renewable energy, that's a given!
The point I original made was that Pickens ideas on the approach are far too simplistic and he only address limited aspects with ridiculous mathematics. However, the sentiment is good!
Pickens has the ability and the money to have quite an influence. Good on him.
Americans are often not taken seriously because they often appear to be dim, simplistic cowboys. This is an error not to be made. It's part of
their marketing appeal - their expertise in this area is the BEST in the world. As said, you start with an idea; kind of like building a car...