T. Boone Pickens in SLC

T. Boone Pickens was in Salt Lake City last week and I went to go hear what he had to say. If your not familiar with T. Boone and his Pickens Plan I suggest you pay his site a visit and read up, you'll no doubt hear about him again.

First off, a couple of things. He is in this business to make money. He is not in this business to make policy relating to all things related to his plan. I found him to be refreshingly honest about both of these things.

Over all I would have to say that I agree with what he is saying. Unless you've been living in a cave, you know that a huge amount of our nations wealth is being sent overseas to pay for our consumption of oil and that isn't counting the cost of the wars and NATO actions that we have to pay for to "secure" the countries that much of that supply comes from. I was shocked to learn that it is actually a transfer of wealth to the tune of 700 Billion/yr. That is 700 b. leaving our country, no correct that, 700 b. that we are sending out of this country willingly and much of it is going to people and countries that want to harm us. The main point of the Pickens plan is this. We need to take ownership of our energy sources and we need to do it as soon as possible.


Now if your at all like me, you've run this scenario through in your head:
• We need to take ownership of our energy sources.
• We need to begin using alternative sources of energy because fossil fuels just can't go on forever.
• If we don't have the infrastructure to deliver the sustainable energy, why start building alternative fuel vehicles?
• How are we going to get off foreign oil when all of our transportation for not just ourselves, but all of our shipping of goods, relies on it?

He has as well, and I have to say, he makes some serious sense. If you list the possible sources of energy that we have available to us right here at home; solar, wind, hydrogen, natural gas, coal and biofuels for example, there are only two of those that can be rapidly deployed to be used in the transportation industry. Biofuels are already in use, but I think we can agree based on food prices that this is not a good solution. That really only leaves clean natural gas (CNG).
CNG is a technology that is available, that is produced here in the US, (also in Canada, but they aren't trying to kill us.) and the technology is already available to convert over to it fairly easily.
Here's the point where many people balk. T. Boone Pickens holds a very large stake in a CNG company called Clean Energy. As I said to begin with, he is very up front about the fact that he own this company, and he is in that business to make money. However, he also backs nuclear, wind farms (which he has already built the biggest one in the world of) drilling for domestic oil and Hydrogen fuel cells. To paraphrase him, he's "for anything, as long as it's domestic."

Now, is the Pickens plan perfect? No, I wouldn't say it is. For instance, I differ from him in that he believes that we should only focus on building NEW vehicles as CNG vehicles and not worry too much about the conversion systems that cause so much grief to even install. I think that legislation against modifications needs to be lifted. He makes a great point though. When someone came up to him as started pointing out all of the bad things about his plan, he simply said, "Great...what's your plan?" He doesn't seem to care at all what source we choose, just as long as it's domestic. And that, I can get behind.

I'm not 100% sold on the Pickens plan, but I am swayed to a certain degree. I've seen what happens when a person, let alone a country, is paralyzed by indecision. We need to move forward. If this is the only plan out there with concrete actions and time lines, I feel that it's definitely worth some serious consideration.

Please, chime in with your opinions on this. Has anyone else seen him in person? What's your opinion of his proposition? Help me make up my mind.

Thanks

P~

The Right to Dry!

I mentioned before that this summer A~ and I added a clothesline to our backyard. We love it! I honestly have to say I don't completely understand it, as it makes very little sense, but we do. You would think that having to carry our clothes downstairs and take the time to hang them would wear out it's novelty pretty soon, but it hasn't. I have heard from a lot of people that I've talked to that they would love to have a clothesline too, but their HOA won't allow it. First of all, I don't have an HOA. If there had been one, I wouldn't have moved here. They're just un American in my view.
Well I believe we have a right to dry. A right to opt out of the normal way things are done. To take a bit of time in our day to save some energy, while not heating up our homes! And apparently someone else does too. Project Laundry List is a 501(c)(3) that is working to advocate laws in different states to guarantee people their "Right to Dry" As I looked through the site, I was a little surprised to find that one of the three States that they site as role models for this type of legislation was right here in Utah! Can you believe it? And California is one of the worst offenders. What's up with that?
Check the Project Laundry site out and see if there's anything you can do to push this in your state. It's something simple that we can all do to some degree. And if your in Utah and get told that you're not allowed to have a clothesline, or any other solar power / collection apparatus, just send 'em HERE and tell em where to go!
P~

Revisiting Alternative Fuels

One of my first blog entries was on alternative fuel sources. In it I stated that I felt that bio diesel would be the best alternative to wean us from fossil fuels. In some ways I still agree with that, but in so many others I have changed my mind greatly. I think that if getting off fossil fuels were the biggest issue, to me at least, then bio fuels would be a pretty acceptable solution. But over the last year, since I made that statement, I've learned a lot about how that solution could impact other areas of out lives. Take for instance the fact that I learned today; wheat prices have risen to record levels. This may not seem like an issue to a lot of people that don't buy wheat (we do.) but I think everyone buys either bread or flour, cereal, or any other number of other products that are grain based and are being pushed aside for bio fuel and ethanol production. Add to that the fact that the ratio of calories of fossil fuels energy used to the created calories of bio diesel energy. If it's not a flat curve, it's very close. Is it one of those damned if you do damned if you don't scenarios? Perhaps we would be putting less CO2 into the atmosphere, but with everything going up in price and reducing in availability, we won't be driving as much anyway. What do you think?

It's interesting to me to look back at my opinions and ideas as they progress. It's one of the things that I love about blogging. I get to share and watch myself evolve, as well as receive input from you and learn about your opinions and ideas. Thanks for the time you give me it's made my life much richer.

Tomorrow: A big bookcase update for those aspiring DIYers out there. If I can do it you can too!P~

A Must Watch

I wanted to share something that I found on a blog that I regularly read, Red State Green. The link is to a 5 part series of videos on You Tube. It is on how How Cuba Survived Peak Oil, and I encourage all of you to take a minute, or rather an hour, to view it if possible.

Peak oil isn't something that I talk about a lot, but I don't think any of us would have to stretch our imaginations to accept the premise that one day the wells will dry up or at least slow down dramatically. The only real debate exists around when that time will arrive, or if it already has. Ask yourself this, "What will the world look like when it begins to impact our daily life?" What challenges will we be faced with? If your like me, and you have given this any thought, then you've probably come to a point where you say, "Everything we could ever expect is really just a best guess, there's no way to know what it will really look like." Well, Cuba was essentially thrown into that situation with the fall of the former Soviet Union, and the subsequent drop off of their oil imports from 13-14 million tons of oil to approximately 4. These videos illustrate the changes, challenges and solutions that Cuba had to come up with.

When I see things like this, it reminds me of some of the reasons I do the things that I do. There are so many skills that we've lost; baking bread, using whole raw foods to make meals, preserving food, growing food and repairing things rather than replacing them. Of course a goodly part of that is also because I am cheap, but what can I say?

I hope you'll take a little time out of your day to take a look at these videos, especially any of you that are not familiar with the idea of peak oil, or that don't generally buy into such ideas. I'd love to hear your opinions if you do.

Tomorrow... Bread, Bread, Butter.
P~

Thought for today

"We need to initiate a bold, far-reaching research initiative – an energy revolution – that will be our generation's equivalent of the Manhattan Project or the mission to the moon. It will be a mission to create new, economical sources of clean energy and clean ways to use the sources we have now. … It will be good for our national defense, it will be good for our foreign policy, and it will be good for our economy."
-Gov. Mitt Romney

For the record (repost)

I was reading No Impact Man this morning, and again, was motivated by todays blog entry and decided to repost a previous writing of mine. It's a slightly different take on essentially the same thing that he was covering. I think it's an appropriate issue, and a legitimate one to address around Memorial day. We have a great number of fine men and women out there defending not only us, but our way of life. As long as we maintain the status quo, we will continue to have to fight for stability in a region that controls the majority of the resource that that way of life depends on; OIL.

Repost follows:
So, why not jump right in with one of my loves; alternative power. I have been reading an article about a new solar polymer foil that is being worked on by a Swiss company. good reading if one is so inclined. I want to state for reference and posterity some opinions of mine with regard to this, alternative energy and self sufficiency that is. Let's get a couple of things on the record. I am first of all conservative, nay not just conservative but A Conservative. Now don't take this too mean that I am a kool-aid drinking, bush can do no wrong, republicans are always right no matter what conservative. There are many issues that I will deal with in the future that I know I will disagree with many people on, I'll do this because I am irrepresibly stuck on myself and my opinions. I admit it, but I am also able to see two sides of a coin. This brings me to the alternative power debate. I do agree with seeking alternative feuls, and power generation sources. I think that we will be failing ourselves and our posterity if we do not. Where I diverge from many peoples argument is that I do not buy into the panic regarding the plight of earth. That's not to say that I deny that the world is getting warmer, but I am also not arrogant enough to think that we as humans are so advanced that we can begin to understand the way that the good Lord made our planet to function. I remember being told the globe would be well frozen by now back in the 80's. I look at the issue like this; we are consistantly paying ever increasing rates for fuel, and fighting wars in countries that control the oil. And no I don't believe the bush war for oil mantra of a lot of the protesters out there. But with so much of a vested interest in maintaining oil supply and fuel flow, how could our government, left or right, not fight for our interests there. Another reason for my advocacy of alternatives is best illustrated by the havok in the New Orleans floods, Seattle wind storms, and the frigid northeast recently. We have such a mindset of waiting to be done for, that when circumstances change, or are thrown into chaos, where are we left? For my part I look at the need for alternatives as both a fiscal and responsibility issue. Fiscal in that I will save in the future, and will be self sufficient as much as possible. Responsibility, because as a husband and parent I want to make sure that I 1.) provide as best I can for my family, 2.) take care of the environment and the resources that we have and 3.) help my country to achieve true independance by severing our dependance on foreign oil. That pretty much wraps that up. Quite a digression from a quick post about some new energy technology wasn't it? Til next time.
P~