T. Boone Pickens: The U.S. needs a 'wind bank'

INDIAN WELLS, Calif.--Billionaire and clean-energy proponent T. Boone Pickens said that the U.S. should establish a federally funded loan program, or bank, to finance large-scale wind developments.

Pickens spoke on Wednesday at the Clean-Tech Investor Summit here where he talked about his Pickens Plan for reducing imports of foreign oil. He also offered a number of energy policy recommendations.

His plan, launched in July, calls for spending $150 billion over the next 10 years to install turbines in the "wind corridor" of the Midwest United States, from Texas to Canada. The other major plank of the plan is to convert vehicles to run on domestic natural gas.

T. Boone Pickens speaks at the Clean-Tech Investor Summit in Palm Springs, California.

(Credit: Martin LaMonica/CNET Networks)

In both areas--wind and natural gas--Boone has business interests. If completed, his Mesa Power wind project will make 4,000 megawatts of electricity, which would make it one of the largest wind farms, capable of powering 1.3 million homes.

Boone has made a down payment on $2 billion worth of General Electric wind turbines, which are set for delivery in 2011. The credit crisis, however, has disrupted the financing for the project, although Boone still thinks the project will get done.

"There's no money to finance it, but I think it's all going to happen. I'm an optimistic entrepreneur type," he said.

To help wind developers and achieve the Pickens Plan target of 20 percent of electricity from wind, Boone said that the U.S. government should establish a "wind bank" that would give wind developers loans.

A wind bank would be a "fraction" of the projected $825 million in federal spending on a stimulus package, he said. It would also be cheaper than continuing to spend money on foreign oil, he argued.

Pickens says he is not opposed to other clean energy technologies, like battery-powered cars. But heavy-duty vehicles can't run on batteries effectively. One diesel garbage truck emits as much pollution as 350 cars.

To overcome that, he proposes an investment of $28 billion to purchase 350,000 heavy trucks that run on natural gas. The fueling infrastructure will follow once those trucks are on the road and corporations start to replace their fleets.

"You cannot get to the conclusion that we can reduce foreign oil in a significant way without using natural gas," he said.

The oil tycoon and life-long Republican has advised a number of politicians on how to cut oil imports. He has also spent $58 million on a public awareness campaign, which he says is successful because the media and politicians now regularly talk about energy.

Back story on the Pickens Plan
In a briefing with reporters, Pickens offered some color on how he decided to launch the plan.

He met with former President Bush in April 2008 to urge him to adopt the core ideas of the Pickens Plan and establish an "energy legacy."

Bush's response, according to Boone, was that he wouldn't have enough time to meet the goals. Six weeks later, Boone had still gotten no response from the Bush administration.

One night at two o'clock in the morning, he woke his wife up and told her: "Somebody's got to do this." Shortly after, he began work on the public awareness campaign.

"I said, 'Hell, it's up to me.' I honestly felt it was the patriotic thing to do. I'm 80, I got the money to do it, so let's just go ahead and do it," he explained.

He said if current trends continue, the U.S. will be importing 75 percent of its oil in 2019--more than today--and be paying high prices--in the $200 to $300 range--because of the supply cannot keep up with the demand.

In doing focus groups in conjunction with launching the Pickens Plan, the billionaire found that many Americans don't believe what politicians say about energy. But he said he doesn't fault them. "They're not lying. They really don't understand energy," he said.

Pickens met with Barack Obama during the campaign and has met with his transition team twice. He says it's clear that the administration is committed to green technology.

"(Obama) is a charismatic guy. I think he can pull it off and it will bring everybody together," he said.

[solarwindmilly]

We need to utilize everything in out power to reduce our dependence on foreign oil including using our own natural resources.OPEC will continue to cut production until they achieve their desired 80-100. per barrel. The high cost of fuel this past year seriously damaged our economy and society. Oil is finite. We are using oil globally at the rate of 2X faster than new oil is being discovered. We need to take some of these billions in bail out bucks and bail ourselves out of our dependence on foreign oil. Jeff Wilson has a really good new book out called The Manhattan Project of 2009 Energy Independence Now. He explores our uses of oil besides gasoline, our depletion, out reserves and stores as well as viable options to replace oil.Oil is finite, it will run out in the not too distant future. WE need to take some of these billions in bail out bucks and bail America out of it's dependence on foreign oil. The historic high price of gas this past year did serious damage to our economy and society. WE should never allow others to have that much power over our economy again. I wish every member of congress would read this book too.

[inquisitivemale1]

From:
Antonio Ivan Easterling
Editor-in-Chief
The Proletarian Review
A Proud Member of the United States Intelligence Community (USIC)

Topic: Wind Banks verses Nuclear Power (Fusion)
1. There is a national emergency in the United States for Nuclear Power, particularly, fusionary power sources. It is time our Research and Development thinktanks and the Energy Industry forge a business partnership to bring fusionary nuclear power to market. With strong public investment, private investment and simple American know-how nuclear fusion can to developed safely and marketed for profit. Thus, making the United States the leading force of nuclear power in the world.
2. Another fusionary power source yet untipped is Blacklight technology. Blacklight technology utilizes laser and crystal energy sources to produce electrical power. Clean electrical energy is the final product.
3. With Fusion Power and Blacklight technology being industrialized, America's shall achieve energy independence, and lead the world in 22nd century power fuel development projects. Therefore, wind power would act as a secondary power source for nuclear power plant construction in this country.

Note: I have not seen any engineering blueprints on wind power to this time. Therefore, the ideal of wind power does not passed my engineering linus test.


The Proletarian Review

[Tbird49er]

Wow! Editor-in-chief....really? I have never known an editor (let alone one in "chief") to show such poor spelling, grammar, and worst of all, such abysmal organization of thought. One should also mention the failure to take note of the volumes of engineering, technical, economic, and political data that has populated this topic over the last several years. Wake up, Mr. Easterling, wind is here and the type of nuclear power to which you refer, is not (engineering and physics, particularly withstanding). A large dose of infrastructure to move said wind-generated enery is indeed needed....but far easier to deliver now versus some vauge point in the future for "safe" fusion (can we all use your backyard for the disposal of any waste byproducts?). Find some new sand to hide your head in!

[Michichael]

Tidal Generators with Wind Turbines mounted on top, just off the coast outside of beach visibility range. Not hard. Expensive, but not hard. tons of energy production.

[gdmaclew]

This may ultimately be a good idea but you have to view it in the light of "real-world" conditions.
They are small points but important ones.
1. The wind corridor is also "tornado alley". Has anyone given any thought to what would happen if one of those tornados rips through a bank of these wind turbines?
2. I am hearing more and more of reports that birds and bats are being killed by these wind turbines at an alarming rate. What will the effect be when we have tens of thousands of these things?

There are always advantages and disadvantages to new technologies.
I'd like to ask the environmentalists what they think about this.

[mrwater]

The "footprint" of a tornado itself is very small, and wind turbines are rather spread out. Wind turbines are, not surprisingly, built to handle wind.

[Kathyinkettering]

Always check your facts before you opine. The Sierra Club has endorsed this plan. The projections on oil are true and then what legacy have we left our children?

[scdecade]

Isn't this guy rich already? If his ideas are such money makers why doesn't he just use all his own capital? If he doesn't have enough money why doesn't he start small and prove his ideas are sound? Don't tell me what you're gonna do tell me what you did.

[sanenazok]

Sorry, can't do that since the project is guaranteed to not profitable and most likely not feasible. All of these people are going to come out of the woodwork in the next four years asking for money from the gov.

[mike_ekim]

He's using a lot of his own money, actually.

[MD_Willington]

Yes he is rich already, his entire plan though it may sound noble, is simply crafted to make more money for his friends and himself. I agree he should use his own money. And regarding using LPG for fuel, it is not new, nor innovative. People have been using propane to fuel vehicles for a long time now, I remember when I was 8 back in the '80's, vehicle propane was $0.16/L Canadian or roughly 60 cents a gallon...

[mike_ekim]

He's using a lot of his own money, actually.

[sanenazok]

He's *thinking* about building this...when he builds a pilot project without gov funds then we'll see.

[Greg5A]

A wind bank? Gee, we have that already--it's called the Democratic Party.

[sanenazok]

His project demonstrates the non-feasibility of wind power. Just TWO coal power plants could easily out produce more than his entire "Wind Bank" which costs $150 billion to build and would cover a ridiculously large area. What a complete joke.

See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monroe_Power_Plant for an example of a single power plant generating over 3,000MW. Combine two of those and you have 150% of the power generation capacity of his fing wind bank.

[iamarcin]

I don't agree with banks either...
Make the technology local so we don't trade our dependency on OPEC to dependency on T. Boone Pickens and all them others.

[Kathyinkettering]

Let Boone Know that many of us are ready to privately finance this wind bank- a small interest rate is better than the rate on most of my stocks!

I just don't need the government to do everything