I don't know if his plan is natural gas or not. What I'm pretty sure of is that T. Boone got into wind farming just as he thought he was going to collect government subsidies for it. His real strategy for wind farms is government subsidy collection.
That's a joke right? Like sarcasm or something I totally missed after reading this thread a few times over... right?
Wind power is a brilliant idea. So is natural gas. However, Oil will never be phased out. Hydrocarbons are the life blood of nations, not just for their energy but for "manufactured" goods, from your desk , to your tshit, to plastics, etc. We need to become energy independed of forigen oil. The Energy Industry, (Private Sector) is booming right now. Publical Traded Companies in the Energy Sector are getting crushed because the "Stretched" their Margins in order to pay outrages Lease Prices in Furtile Drilling areas and deep sea exploration. and now, they are caught up in the "Crash" of the overall market. But do not be fooled. Those companies will comeback. The cost of drilling and land leases have come way down from the highs of when oil was at 100 plus. IMHO we will be back up to 65/70 by mid summer. Which is sustainable levels for both consumers, drillers (on land) and manufactures. (Deep sea exploration break even is around 65.) Boon Pickens makes sense and he is dumping a shit load of money back into Oil at these levels.
Wind does not perform anywhere near estimates. There is some use for it, but overall, it does not work well. Net effect is bad for the environment, nowhere near worth it for the energy it produces. The real issue is how it produces it. Most, if not all, of the US projects are just about grabbing any government money possible. Also GE trying to grow sales. Boon Pickens made sense for himself and noone else. The guy was literally demanding a handout. If his idea was so great, why didn't he keep funding it with his own capital & debt? Or get private investment? Because he put a lot into it expecting major free money from government and got a big surprise. Hence he starting pimping his "plan".
Intermittent is fine. Its the law of large numbers. Add some windpower in other places with different winds patterns. Add some solar. Add some hydro and a few nukes and it all balances out nicely.
Totally rumor, but I was talking to my dad and brother ,who both live in the Dallas area, about this the other day. They were claiming that T Boone has all that land up in west Texas because an aquafor was found there. So Boone, allegedly, is trying to get the electricty trasmission lines up there (on the cheap under the guise of a wind farm) so he can build a water pipeline to some major cities in Texas and make that paaaaaaper. Again, totally rumor and I have no basis in fact whatsoever.
Very believable as Ted Turner is known for doing this as well. Except that he uses the conservation angle. Water & water rights are going to become very important in the upcoming years.