Re: NBC: Stop the Energy Insanity; by Mortimer Zuckerman

On Jul 13, 11:52 am, "William Longyard" <longy...@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:
Bev,
The problem with Pickens' premise is that wind power (he claims one mill is
worth 1,200 barrels of oil) won't power REAL automobiles.  Wind is great for
making electricity (not as good as a nuke plant, btw), but electric cars are
not really viable in America's driving environment... long distances,
multiple trips per day.  If you've ever seen wind farms then perhaps you
know how destructive they are to natural beauty of an area, but also very
deadly to bird populations.  I've seen wind farms from California, to
Germany, and I shudder at how wasteful they are of land, and wildlife.

Bill L.

<Bevch...@xxxxxxxxx> wrote in message

news:bc072432-490b-4d65-9f3e-5da26f9a5afd@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
On Jul 13, 11:13 am, "William  Longyard" <longy...@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:





If we use 1% of ANWR's reserves per year we get 100 years. If we use 5% we
get 20 years....

The point is, no ONE source is going to help us. We need as many sources
as
possible. ANWR, and others.

Bill L.

"David" <acomp1et...@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message

news:l4ak74hf6qug34a29op9qiu89chpuraq2f@xxxxxxxxxx

In article <Dbidndg0KsI9S-XVnZ2dnUVZ_gWdn...@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
"William Longyard" <longy...@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

All of this is a specious argument, because the oil from ANWR would
most
likely wind up in Japan or China, like much of the current Alaskan
supply
does. Why? Considering the cost of shipping, and the small size
(width) of
the Panama Canal, it makes more sense to ship Alaskan crude to Asia
and
buy
Caribbean and South American crude.

On Sat, 12 Jul 2008 20:04:47 -0400, "D.F. Manno" <dfma...@xxxxxxxx>
wrote:

So you just contradicted your own claim that "ANWR can lower our
dependency on foreign oil." If what you say above is accurate, then
drilling in ANWR will _not_ reduce U.S. dependence on foreign oil.
On Sat, 12 Jul 2008 20:49:05 -0400, Ukes <duke_of_did...@xxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:

On Sat, 12 Jul 2008 20:49:05 -0400, Ukes <duke_of_did...@xxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:

The objective isn't autarky - it's to lower the price of oil, isn't
it?

Jerry

While we're waiting for Bill to offer an opinion on how many year's
worth of U.S. consumption can be extracted from ANWR, what's your
opinion on how much drilling ANWR will lower the price of our oil.
--
Reply to david at habermehl dot com- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Bill,

Have you, or has anyone here, read T. Boone Pickens' plan for new
energy and a different energy future?  It sounds good, but I'm no
engineer.

http://www.pickensplan.com/theplan/
America is addicted to foreign oil.
It's an addiction that threatens our economy, our environment and our
national security. It touches every part of our daily lives and ties
our hands as a nation and a people.

The addiction has worsened for decades and now it's reached a point of
crisis.

In 1970, we imported 24% of our oil.
Today it's nearly 70% and growing.
As imports grow and world prices rise, the amount of money we send to
foreign nations every year is soaring. At current oil prices, we will
send $700 billion dollars out of the country this year alone — that's
four times the annual cost of the Iraq war.

Projected over the next 10 years the cost will be $10 trillion — it
will be the greatest transfer of wealth in the history of mankind.

America uses a lot of oil. Every day 85 million barrels of oil are
produced around the world. And 21 million of those are used here in
the United States.

That's 25% of the world's oil demand. Used by just 4% of the world's
population.

Can't we just produce more oil?

World oil production peaked in 2005. Despite growing demand and an
unprecedented increase in prices, oil production has fallen over the
last three years. Oil is getting more expensive to produce, harder to
find and there just isn't enough of it to keep up with demand.

The simple truth is that cheap and easy oil is gone.

What's the good news?

The United States is the Saudi Arabia of wind power.

Studies from around the world show that the Great Plains states are
home to the greatest wind energy potential in the world — by far.

The Department of Energy reports that 20% of America's electricity can
come from wind. North Dakota alone has the potential to provide power
for more than a quarter of the country.

Today's wind turbines stand up to 410 feet tall, with blades that
stretch 148 feet in length. The blades collect the wind's kinetic
energy. In one year, a 3-megawatt wind turbine produces as much energy
as 12,000 barrels of imported oil.

Wind power currently accounts for 48 billion kWh of electricity a year
in the United States — enough to serve more than 4.5 million
households. That is still only about 1% of current demand, but the
potential of wind is much greater.

A 2005 Stanford University study found that there is enough wind power
worldwide to satisfy global demand 7 times over — even if only 20% of
wind power could be captured.

Building wind facilities in the corridor that stretches from the Texas
panhandle to North Dakota could produce 20% of the electricity for the
United States at a cost of $1 trillion. It would take another $200
billion to build the capacity to transmit that energy to cities and
towns.

That's a lot of money, but it's a one-time cost. And compared to the
$700 billion we spend on foreign oil every year, it's a bargain.

An economic revival for rural America.
Developing wind power is an investment in rural America.

To witness the economic promise of wind energy, look no further than
Sweetwater, Texas.

Sweetwater was typical of many small towns in middle-America. With a
shortage of good jobs, the youth of Sweetwater were leaving in search
of greater opportunities. And the town's population dropped from
12,000 to under 10,000.

When a large wind power facility was built outside of town, Sweetwater
experienced a revival. New economic opportunity brought the town back
to life and the population has grown back up to 12,000.

In the Texas panhandle, just north of Sweetwater, is the town of
Pampa, where T. Boone Pickens' Mesa Power is currently building the
largest wind farm in the world.

At 4,000 megawatts — the equivalent combined output of four large coal-
fire plants — the production of the completed Pampa facility will
double the wind energy output of the United States.

In addition to creating new construction and maintenance jobs,
thousands of Americans will be employed to manufacture the turbines
and blades. These are high skill jobs that pay on a scale comparable
to aerospace jobs.

Plus, wind turbines don't interfere with farming and grazing, so they
don't threaten food production or existing local economies.

A cheap new replacement for foreign oil.
 The Honda Civic GX Natural Gas Vehicle is the cleanest internal-
combustion vehicle in the world according to the EPA.
Natural gas and bio-fuels are the only domestic energy sources used
for transportation.

Cleaner
Natural gas is the cleanest transportation fuel available today.

According to the California Energy Commission, critical greenhouse gas
emissions from natural gas are 23% lower than diesel and 30% lower
than gasoline.

Natural gas vehicles (NGV) are already available and combine top
performance with low emissions. The natural gas Honda Civic GX is
rated as the cleanest production vehicle in the world.

According to NGVAmerica, there are more than 7 million NGVs in use
worldwide, but only 150,000 of those are in the United States.

The EPA estimates that vehicles on the road account for 60% of carbon
monoxide pollution and around one-third of hydrocarbon and nitrogen
oxide emissions in the United States. As federal and state emissions
laws become more stringent, many requirements will be unattainable
with conventionally fueled vehicles.

Since natural gas is significantly cleaner than petroleum, NGVs are
increasing in popularity. The Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach
recently announced that 16,800 old diesel trucks will be replaced, and
half of the new vehicles will run on alternatives such as natural
gas.

Cheaper
Natural gas is significantly less expensive than gasoline or diesel.
In places like Utah and Oklahoma, prices are less than $1 a gallon. To
see fueling stations and costs in your area, check out cngprices.com.

Domestic
Natural gas is our country's second largest energy resource and a
vital component of our energy supply. 98% of the natural gas used in
the United States is from North America. But 70% of our oil is
purchased from foreign nations.

Natural gas is one of the cleanest, safest and most useful forms of
energy — residentially, commercially and industrially. The natural gas
industry has existed in the United States for over 100 years and
continues to grow.

Domestic natural gas reserves are twice that of petroleum. And new
discoveries of natural gas and ongoing development of renewable biogas
are continually adding to existing reserves.

While it is a cheap, effective and versatile fuel, less than 1% of
natural gas is currently used for transportation.

The Mechanics

We currently use natural gas to produce 22% of our electricity.
Harnessing the power of wind to generate electricity will give us the
flexibility to shift natural gas away from electricity generation and
put it to use as a transportation fuel — reducing our dependence on
foreign oil by more than one-third.

How do we get it done?
The Pickens Plan is a bridge to the future — a blueprint to reduce
foreign oil dependence by harnessing domestic energy alternatives, and
buy us time to develop even greater new technologies.

Building new wind generation facilities and better utilizing our
natural gas resources can replace more than one-third of our foreign
oil imports in 10 years. But it will take leadership.

On January 20th, 2009, a ...

read more »- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Thanks Bill. I didn't see your response earlier. But, I'm so angry
about this whole issue ... I mean we DO have the technology to make it
better, but the cost is the problem. And as you just said, the birds,
the wildlife, the beauty of our country suffers with wind power, yet
it is viable.

I really don't think any of us has the answers. I don't think it's
necessarily a "political" thing. I think, really, we're all in this
together. And, if we're not, we're in trouble.

I'm going to ask Bill Foster about it again. He is the newly elected
scientist-engineer from near me who replaced Hastert. His last answer
was so complicated and full of words I didn't know (and I'm not
stupid), I just didn't really understand. It was all scientific
lingo. But, I'm forever happy to have someone from a new background
like him in our government.

All I want are answers. Good answers. Thank you for replying to my
post.

Bev
.

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