Pickens Plan

[Wimperdink]

Would love to get a tax break for driving a micro car. I have small relatively fuel efficient cars now that we use on our 55 mile daily round trip commute. I stay off the interstate now that I've recorded the savings of following more rural roads at much lower speeds. I would afford a 40mpg smart car if the benefits equaled or exceeded my current paid off vehicles. I can drive a lot of miles in my current vehicles to equal what I would be paying in monthly payments, increased insurance, and fuel cost. I believe thats probably why so many people continue to drive their inefficient vehicles daily. The financial benefit to change just is not yet there. I would have to believe most people would like to help but when your living paycheck to paycheck, buying a new car or replacing appliances just aren't within their capabilities. Electric is not effective enough to be a consideration for me yet. A 2 seater 90mpg micro car is though.

I have a 1977 Ford F-250 that gets used to move the larger campers around and does my family's dirty work. It gets about 14 mpg hwy. It has a 460 engine and sucks my wallet dry. If anyone wants to trade a mini truck just to get this bohemoth of the road... feel free to give me a call. Otherwise I will keep driving it as needed as I cannot afford to replace it.

Now that I've spouted out all that crap. Yes I'm for Pickens plan until someone else comes up with something better.

[cs_whypt2]

...good for you and you also make my basic point, that we will all need to do things to help

Absolutely. My husband and I have nearly gone to fistfights talking about SUVs. He counters that people can buy what they want with their own money, like I have a big-screen TV. I reply that my TV doesn't take excess food (ethanol) and fuel away from people who need it. If you NEED a truck or SUV to do what you need to, that's one thing. But seeing some of these blinged-up, sparkly-clean things in cities and suburbs just makes me shake my head. Not that I'm gonna key somebody's car or anything, but I don't consider it a smart use of the planet's resources.

That said, our next vehicle may be a truck ... but we NEED a better cargo hauler for all the stuff we do. A small truck.

as much as I would like to add solar and/or wind power, I just can''t afford at present....but I do keep looking at it...

Ditto. We opted for a whole-house fan instead of AC. If you open & close your windows properly in the mornings and evenings, it works really well.

I drive a truck if I need it or not. I will pay the extra money to be proud of driving my truck. If I am "taking away the planets resources" so be it. Toxins are released to produce electricty to power the TV you watch. Why is it any different?

Dianne

[sdtripper2]

The colorful yet insightful Mr. T. Boone Pickens of (BP Capital)
testified at the Senate Full Committee Hearing: to examine the challenges
and regional solutions to developing transmission for renewable electricity resources (SD 366)


Pickens has some thought provoking ideas on the expansion of wind energy and
diverting natural gas to the auto consumption arena, to have the US become
self sufficient with energy for electric Transmission and auto consumption.
If you read his logical facts on the amount of money we are pouring out to
our enemies as well as the 85 Billion cap on oil production. You will see that
with the middle classes of India and China will exasperate the cost of crude
oil. Pickens makes a good argument for self sufficiency with the will of
Government focus on Wind transmission and Natural gas for cars. Read his
testimony below and see charts and explanations.

Mr. T. Boone Pickens
Written testimony Tuesday, June 17, 2008 10:00 AM
http://energy.senate.gov/public/_files/ ... 061708.doc
or here > http://tinyurl.com/497g7y

Full list of Hearing participants and information:
http://tinyurl.com/3jg9m7
Video View the whole hearing here: http://energy.senate.gov/public/_files/energy061708.ram

[Jason and Amanda]

Hmm this is a decent thread. Does it make some people sick that I have an SUV and a pickup? Probably. But the pickup was a cheap base model that I could not beat the price, and the SUV, well it's a 98 and so cheap to own that it would cost more for me to get a fuel effecient vehicle than to pay the higher fuel prices.

Now inside my home, i run 3 computers, usually 2 of them are on at any given time, they heat my house for me in the winter though so my winter power bills are spooky low, im talking like under $50 a month low. But I run virtual test labs and study for work, and test patches and all that crap at home so my computer power usage is much more justified than my vehicles.

But I walk when I can, when I can't walk I ride my bike, when I can't ride my bike I resort to the truck. I'm so crazy about turning off tv's and lights that I even annoy my wife at times. It's just going to take alot of time to get everyone on board and unfortunately in order for that to happen it has to hit us in the pocket book even harder than we are seeing now.

[sdtripper2]

More heard from T Boone Pickens on energy policy
CSPAN Video's here:
YouTube Video's here:

[Kurt (Indiana)]

...the thing I like about it, is it's practicality and the fact that even to me, it seems doable...ethanol is a red herring, at least when based on corn and other grains and we need SOMETHING to help all of us, stop hemorrhaging money to folks overseas, who basically hate everything about us...except taking our money......as a citizen of a state that is covered up in oil/gas wells, along with refineries and their attendant infrastructure, I have NO SYMPATHY for the NIMBY's that don't want to see oil wells off their coasts, or backyards...I KNOW, the oil can be extracted/refined safely and responsibly, so I say, drill ANYWHERE there may be oil...even ANWAR, the coasts of Cape Cod and Florida...refine methods of oil shale/sands production, put wind farms, wherever they work best, invest heavily in solar cell research, force Nevada to allow Yucca Flats to open and HELP END THIS MADNESS!!!!!!!!!!!
madjack

MadJack, I agree, let's get all the domestic oil we can find. We already know that we need to come up with an alternative form of energy but it isn't going to ready tomorrow.

Why not use our own resources to help us cut domestic oil related costs as we develop the alternatives. I don't see the issue about "no drilling" that promotes "our" cause as a nation.

the only thing I can think of is that the "alternatives" (that we want to be on stream in 10 years) is a far fetched goal and we will still need oil to maintain our standards in the future. In that case we'll need to hold on to our domestic sources in case the alternatives aren't ready.
Alternative energy is a major project and we'll need all the help we can get to make it a reality in the next decade.

[Nitetimes]

...the thing I like about it, is it's practicality and the fact that even to me, it seems doable...ethanol is a red herring, at least when based on corn and other grains and we need SOMETHING to help all of us, stop hemorrhaging money to folks overseas, who basically hate everything about us...except taking our money......as a citizen of a state that is covered up in oil/gas wells, along with refineries and their attendant infrastructure, I have NO SYMPATHY for the NIMBY's that don't want to see oil wells off their coasts, or backyards...I KNOW, the oil can be extracted/refined safely and responsibly, so I say, drill ANYWHERE there may be oil...even ANWAR, the coasts of Cape Cod and Florida...refine methods of oil shale/sands production, put wind farms, wherever they work best, invest heavily in solar cell research, force Nevada to allow Yucca Flats to open and HELP END THIS MADNESS!!!!!!!!!!!
madjack

MadJack, I agree, let's get all the domestic oil we can find. We already know that we need to come up with an alternative form of energy but it isn't going to ready tomorrow.

Why not use our own resources to help us cut domestic oil related costs as we develop the alternatives. I don't see the issue about "no drilling" that promotes "our" cause as a nation.

the only thing I can think of is that the "alternatives" (that we want to be on stream in 10 years) is a far fetched goal and we will still need oil to maintain our standards in the future. In that case we'll need to hold on to our domestic sources in case the alternatives aren't ready.
Alternative energy is a major project and we'll need all the help we can get to make it a reality in the next decade.

This is the part nobody can seem to get a grip on. It doesn't matter which direction we go this stuff ain't gonna happen in the next ten years.
There are literally tens of millions of gas/diesel powered motors that will take a generation to replace once a viable alternative to them is found. It seems the mindset is that as soon as a usable solution is found someone will just snap their fingers and everything will change over to that...not gonna happen. Who's gonna pay to replace every gas powered vehicle on the road? The government? Right! Most average people can't afford to run out and buy a new vehicle just because it's supposed to be the best thing since sliced bread. Look how long it took to replace horses and convince people that gas engines were the wave of the future. We're a stubborn animal, we don't readily accept change and we tend to like and want to hold on to what we've got. Most of us won't live to see the day the last gas guzzler is pulled off the roads and I for one and not gonna hold my breath waiting for it to happen.
Hmm, I'm not even sure if I made a point...I'll step down and slink away now.

[grant whipp]

... the only thing I can think of is that the "alternatives" (that we want to be on stream in 10 years) is a far fetched goal and we will still need oil to maintain our standards in the future. ...

This is the part nobody can seem to get a grip on. It doesn't matter which direction we go this stuff ain't gonna happen in the next ten years...
Hmm, I'm not even sure if I made a point...I'll step down and slink away now.

No, Rich, you made an excellent point! Even with affordable alternatives to gas & diesel powered vehicles, it's going to take a long long time to get everyone "switched" over!

As an example, I want a little all electric pickup to drive back & forth to my shop, and keep the fuel rigs for medium & long distance trips ... the cost of the rig I want is $12K ... I'm fortunate that all of my cars are paid for, but I can't go into debt again, even for a mere $12K ... so the bottom line for me is, $12K will buy a lot of gas for a good long time! My solution is to build an electric vehicle over a few years.

And, BTW, I'm sure I've mentioned it before ... I used to work in the oil & gas fields 'round the Rocky Mountains ... folks, we're sittin' on an unbelievable amount of natural gas! That doesn't mean that we can go nuts and burn all we want, it just means that with some careful planning and really smart usage, all while we develop and implement other forms of cleaner & more efficient energy, we can sustain our needs for many, many centuries!

CHEERS!

Grant

[Kurt (Indiana)]

Grant & Rich, I hope I'm reading your posts right. My comment falls exactly in line with what your are saying.

There is no real way to totally impliment an energy alternative and "release us" from oil in such a short time span.

First of all there are so many products that we use in every day life that we may never get to that point. (I know I'll never see it).

I'm all for alternative sources of energy for cars and heating fuels, etc. but it, what ever "it" is and whenever "t" comes, will become another commodity and be subject to the same supply and demand issues that we see today.

There is no good answer to the problem unless I can get my "Perpetual Motion machine" to work.

I think Pickens is going in a "good" direction, but today's solutions will be tomorrow's commodity.

I hope something comes up although I can't quite picture what the world will be like in twenty years.

[Joanne]

To me, energy independence just makes sense in so many ways. Sending money to other countries for energy that we could produce here at home makes no sense at all.

In recent weeks the price of oil has dropped significantly and that's a mixed blessing. We can all use lower prices, but I hope that we don't lose sight of the fact that we need a long term plan for engery independence. We really dropped the ball in the late 70s and early 80s when we should have really got moving. Let's not make the same mistake twice.

I believe that ultimately we will need to move towards electric vehicles for most uses, but we will need transition technologies along the way. I don't like the majority of the bio-fuel options because it puts food production resources (farmers, equipment and land) in direct competition with fuel production resources. Food prices can only go up in that scenerio.

There are no easy solutions, but we NEED to start moving in that direction. When I drive through the vast empty expanses of Nevada I keep asking myself why we aren't doing more with wind and solar. I realize that the technologies aren't mature yet but I believe that we need to get there one way or the other.

Joanne