Wind Energy

Energy produced from wind turbines is not something we’ve discussed in awhile but Amanda Little’s recent book Power Trip has rekindled that subject. Her interview with T. Boone Pickens – “Texas Tea, Black Gold” – was of particular note. “I’m a man who thinks with his wallet,” he told her. He also told her, “we’ve reached peak oil.”

Loosely translated, that means the world is producing oil at optimum levels and already on a par with demand. Since the demand for oil is most likely to increase before we finish this post, it stands to reason alternate energy sources should be uppermost on people’s minds.

Pickens’ determination to pursue these energy sources is significant. For a man of such enormous power, influence and business savvy, not to mention wealth, to make his case against oil in such unequivocal terms is remarkable. This man has spent a good deal of money defeating democrats and supporting republicans. “I’m not Al Gore,” he says quite plainly.

It is interesting to juxtapose the comments of Dr. William Gray and T. Boone Pickens.  Dr. Gray, a renowned atmospheric scientist and avowed global warming skeptic said we should stick with fossil fuels to avoid economic disaster; Mr. Pickens, one of the foremost businessmen of our age and whose fortune comes from fossil fuel, says differently.

He might have suffered a temporary set back regarding all those wind turbines he put up in Texas, and he has long been a proponent of natural gas along with other clean energy sources.

Natural gas may also be too expensive and only a temporary solution to a long term problem but the oil man does not like our dependence on foreign oil, “sucking hind tit,” as he puts it. His move from wind turbine to natural gas is just a slight hitch up in the git-along but, as Mr. Pickens continues to think in terms of  green energy solutions, we’re happy to saddle up and ride along side him.

Wind energy in west Texas, Wind Turbines

Tagged as: Renewable, Sustainable energy, Wind turbine