T. Boone Pickens - Wind Power

[Pirate Pride]

Not an advanced member of this site who post links and such, but basically this is an oil guy who is "putting his money where his mouth is about renewable energy" and has actually taken out ads.

 

How bout it?

[ScarHeel]

Pickens Plan

 

T. Boone Pickens - Wikipedia

 

 

http://www.boonepickens.com/

T. Boone Pickens proposes energy plan for America

 

A critical message from T. Boone Pickens: "America is in a hole and it's getting deeper every day. We import 70 percent of our oil at a cost of $700 billion a year - four times the annual cost of the Iraq war. I've been an oil man all my life, but this is one emergency we can't drill our way out of. But if we create a new renewable energy network, we can break our addiction to foreign oil. On January 20, 2009, a new President gets sworn in. If we're organized, we can convince Congress to make major changes toward cleaner, cheaper and domestic energy resources.To get this done, I need your help. Check out the plan. If you think it's worth fighting for, please join our effort, and encourage everyone you know to do the same."

[John Anthony]

Pickens for president.. recent poll showed 71% of Americans say gas prices are #1.. pretty amazing if you think about it.

 

Pickens is calling Obama and McCain out and telling them to get serious.

[Pirate Pride]

This guy isn't just preaching either. I saw on CNBC the other day where he has contracts for like 2 billion dollars worth of wind turbines.

[ladiesbballcoach]

On our vacation we drove through Pennsylvania where they had some of the huge wind turbines (is that what they are called). Pretty cool looking things.

[AcesFull]

I am very skeptical about Pickens' claim that wind power can meet 20% of US energy requirements but this is a great example of the market responding to increasing energy costs. I am also not sure that I agree with Picken's suggestion of converting more vehicles to run on natural gas because of the impact that the conversion would have on home heating costs. I would rather see increased use of electric vehicles for short hauls, which would not require the creation of a new energy distribution system.

 

It will be interesting to watch how environmentalists and animal rights activists react to the widespread slaughter of birds that large scale wind farms will bring - and how willing wealthy environmentalists will be to have wind turbines spoiling their view of the horizon.

[ladiesbballcoach]

We discussed this weekend about are there school buses that run on natural gas?

 

I have seen many city buses who have moved to natural gas and wondered with increasing prices of fuel costs for school districts whether this would be an option.

[Hearsay]

I come as close to hero worship with T. Boone as there is. The man is Midas, and for the last 20 years, his works have all been for the public good. Go ask Oklahoma State University. He asks, and I follow.

[Clyde]

Go ask Oklahoma State University. .

 

I wonder if his card includes "OSU President and AD?"

[ScarHeel]

I come as close to hero worship with T. Boone as there is. The man is Midas, and for the last 20 years, his works have all been for the public good. Go ask Oklahoma State University. He asks, and I follow.

 

:thumb:

 

Pickens has spearheaded an effort to create an athletic village just north of the existing campus. In order to do so, hundreds of homes were purchased by the OSU administration using Pickens' contributions. Pickens' gift remains the largest donation to a university's athletic program in collegiate history. His total contributions to OSU come to over $400 million dollars. Over $265 million, or 66%, of his donations have been towards athletics. Pickens also has made substantial academic gifts to Oklahoma State University, particularly to the School of Geology, which is named for him.

 

On December 30, 2005, Pickens made a $165 million gift to Oklahoma State University. The New York Times reported that "the money spent less than an hour on December 30 in the account of the university's charity, O.S.U. Cowboy Golf Inc., before it was invested in a hedge fund controlled by Mr. Pickens, BP Capital Management." Pickens, who is on the board of the O.S.U. Cowboy Golf, waived any management fees for the OSU monies, however, and all profits of the fund go to growing the OSU gift. The gift is intended to help fund an upgrade of the football stadium and construction of an athletic village, but sparked controversy because OSU planned to use eminent domain to acquire residential property for the projects. The donation comes after a $70 million gift from Pickens to OSU in 2003, which was similarly structured using O.S.U. Cowboy Golf, Inc.

 

On July 28, 2007 the Board of Regents of Oklahoma State University approved a resolution to move $28 million from the OSU Foundation into Pickens' BP Capital Management company in Dallas. Oklahoma State has previously invested $277 million in the fund. Pickens has been waiving fees for the university's investments with his fund.

 

On May 21, 2008 Pickens made an historic donation of $100 million dollars to academics at Oklahoma State University. The gift will be matched by the state of Oklahoma.

 

Sourse: Wiki

[bballfamily]

How many acres of land does it take to replace a coal-fired plant with a wind turbine farm? How many turbines are on this wind turbine farm?

[Wireman]

I saw his commercial last night (which I'm sure costed millions of dollars) and wasn't sure what to make of it. It did get my attention and wonder what he had up his sleeve.

[HHSDad]

How many acres of land does it take to replace a coal-fired plant with a wind turbine farm? How many turbines are on this wind turbine farm?

The largest wind turbine farm in the United States is the Horse Hollow Wind Energy Center in Texas which has a 745 MW capacity, equivalent to your typical power plant. The farm sits on 47,000 acres (73 sq. miles) and uses 492 wind turbines.

[Hasbeen]

Maybe I'm just being skeptical at this point, but I tend to question motives and what jumps out at me is the investment Pickens has made in windfarms and the role government subsidies play. He stands to recoup his investment in this ad campaign many times over if publicity forces congress to renew the subsidies.

 

I would also like to see a more detailed study on CNG prices. According to the chart provided on Picken's website, the price ranges from .99 to 2.39 in North Carolina alone. That's a huge range for one state and the immediate question is which would actually be the more stable price.

[Wireman]

Maybe I'm just being skeptical at this point, but I tend to question motives and what jumps out at me is the investment Pickens has made in windfarms and the role government subsidies play. He stands to recoup his investment in this ad campaign many times over if publicity forces congress to renew the subsidies.

 

I would also like to see a more detailed study on CNG prices. According to the chart provided on Picken's website, the price ranges from .99 to 2.39 in North Carolina alone. That's a huge range for one state and the immediate question is which would actually be the more stable price.

 

I would almost guarantee that he stands to make a great deal of money. He is a billionaire for a reason.