Anybody wanna know some real info on that Pickens Plan that we see all about?

[vandy0419]

This guy is insane...yeah, seems smart, but isn't cost effective...for those who love the whole analytical view of things, here it is, straight from my history of american economics professor, Larry Schweikart...

Hello all. Welcome to Economic and Business History. We'll obviously be dealing with the rise of the American oil industry, but in light of the publicized "wind power" proposal put forward by T. Boone Pickens, here are some numbers for you to consider. These are JUST FOR TEXAS, and if want the "bottom line," go to the final number:

TX power Requirement (MW) 104,754 MW
Amount of Wind Power Desired 20.00%
MW of Wind 20950.8 MW
Area per Megawatt 0.02 MW/Acre
Efficiency 35.00% percent
Sq Miles Wind Power 2992971.4 Acres
Acres / Sq MIle 640 SqMi/A
Actual Sq Miles Req 4676.52 sq miles
Distance from Minot ND
to Big Bend TX 1300 miles
Width of Corridor 3.60 miles
Watts per Tower 1.5 MW
Quantity towers 13,967 units
Cost per tower $ 5,000,000 each
Tower Cost $ 69,836 million
Transmission Lines $ 10,000 million
Total Cost $ 79,836 million

The assumptions are that you need 50 A per tower, and that typical efficiency of the generators is about 35 percent, meaning you get usable power from them 35 percent of the time. The wind corridor would be 1300 miles long, extend from Northern N Dakota to Big Bend TX, and be about 4 miles wide.

That's $80 BILLION for 35% of TEXAS!!! And he complains about $700 billion for the U.S.?? Extrapolate Texas's population (less than 10% of the US) and costs and you get $800 billion---that's a $100 billion loss, without the necessary COAL- and OIL-fired plants that you have to have for the other 65% of the time. In other words, just to build "wind power," you have to build additional coal- and oil-fired plants to back it up!

A study of wind in Ireland (http://www.aweo.org/LowBenefit.pdf) found that adding more wind generators actually decreased benefits as more were added!! Most of the time they produce only 1/4 of their capacity, whereas oil plants run at near 100% all the time! The wind plant in VT produced no energy most of the time! The German plant produced 18% of its capacity. Denmark found that because the wind generation of its plants was so low it had to build ADDITIONAL C02 plants!! (I don't buy "global warming," but if you do, this should be very disturbing). A study in the UK found that wind farms produced NO usable electricity.

(It goes without saying you can't run a car on wind, or make tires with wind, or develop any of the thousands of petrol-based products with wind.)

So whats everyones thoughts?

[mrphoto103]

I honestly believe that all politicians are crooks...

[vandy0419]

Originally Posted by mrphoto103

I honestly believe that all politicians are crooks...

I've never researched much about him, but hes not a politician, just a wealthy man...

[mrphoto103]

ahhh, because of my beliefs I dont follow politics much. That and because of all the politcs talk on here (which I find odd and a little miss placed personally) I thought he was one. My bad wasnt trying to thread jack =)

[Mattman6]

yea i read into this after seeing his commercials, its a load of crap

[vandy0419]

Originally Posted by Mattman6

yea i read into this after seeing his commercials, its a load of crap

Whats a load of crap is that Leno had this guy on his show even.

I should send in something to Leno's producers to have my professor on the show. He's got tons of good stuff and a new book out called "48 Liberal Lies (that you probably learned in school)"

Hell, I should do that, if he gets on, I'll hopefully get a better grade.

[Shabodah]

The more you look into Wind power, the more you'll find that it can actually work, but the whole Wind Farm idea doesn't really work. There are currently smaller windmill generators being built on all sorts of larger buildings, generating electricity that is used in said buildings, and it actually works out quite well. The physics of thermal dynamics works very well with windmill generators in areas there large geographical features (or buildings).

[vandy0419]

^hey shab! Good to see you on and not whoring up your old threads like last night, lol!

Yeah, in a small scope it is good but they pay for themselves on the buildings. Having us pay for it through taxes is where it will get bad.

[NoRemorse]

Originally Posted by mrphoto103

I honestly believe that all politicians are crooks...

AMEN


Pickens is an idiot. He used to be into oil. Got rich. Now he is trying to get everyone on board with is 'Plan' which revolves around converting cars to CNG. He bought HUGE stakes in CNG before this plan shit.

I saw an interview with him, and he would NOT shut up about fucking CNG. Seriously, a man with an agenda, just like any fucking politician.

Now his talk of energy independence is the right view, I just don't think it's his view that makes him say it, but his investments.

[Shabodah]

Originally Posted by vandy0419

^hey shab! Good to see you on and not whoring up your old threads like last night, lol!

Yeah, in a small scope it is good but they pay for themselves on the buildings. Having us pay for it through taxes is where it will get bad.

I didn't even really whore them. Just bumped them up for S&Gs. I wish this place was more active, though. Maybe a Astra Redline would help?

Wish I had some cash to spend on my car right now... Ugh.