I’m concerned about the lack of progress made by our elected officials in Washington on the major issues of the day. Where are the solutions for our energy crisis, social security funding or a cost efficient health care system? We have been patiently waiting for decades to solve each of these, and other, problems. Has our democratic way of living broken down and become obsolete? Do our decision makers place party politics and getting votes in front of patriotism and doing what is right for America and its citizens?
No, the system isn’t broken, and no, we don’t need a new form of government to get things done. We just need citizens to step forward and help our senators and representatives make the right choices in these difficult times. And we need politicians who will listen to citizens, like you and me, who have good ideas from time to time.
I think we’ve all read or heard about T. Boone Pickens’ plan to help solve the energy crisis. His plan would build enough wind turbines to produce 20% of our electricity within the next 10 years. We have a lot of wind in the central part of the United States, and it’s free. The conversion to wind will lower our dependence on foreign oil from the current 70% down to 50%. Our dependence could be reduced even more with the additional use of solar energy.
The Pickens Plan also calls for using substantially less natural gas to produce electricity and to use our vast natural gas resources to power our cars and trucks. Most auto manufacturing companies produce cars powered by natural gas now, but very few are sold in the U.S. The conversion from our gas guzzling cars to cars powered by natural gas and other fuel alternatives could be relatively quick and easy. I like the fact that we could fill up our cars with natural gas right at home before we leave in the morning.
Is the Pickens Plan cost efficient? If you can believe T. Boone, less expensive energy, such as wind, solar and natural gas, will save us billions. And even more importantly, all of the equipment needed to make this happen will be made in America by U.S. citizens. Furthermore, a big chunk of the $700 billion that we send out of this country to buy oil will no longer be sent to the Middle East and other places around the world.
What are the drawbacks? I don’t know enough about energy or the costs to give you a knowledgeable answer. I am sure there are issues to be worked out, but maybe the Pickens Plan could serve as a starting point and be refined to apply to the real world. A seemingly well thought out plan with a few problems is a lot better than no plan at all, which is what we’ve got now.
Let’s assume the Pickens Plan is a good starting point. How can we get Congress and the president to adopt it? That’s the billion-dollar question. When I watched Mr. Pickens’ testimony before a Senate committee a few weeks ago, I noticed that the senators seemed very impressed.
Will the Pickens Plan get a fair hearing in Congress? I hope so. Americans are tired of politics as usual in Washington. I, for one, would like to see our elected officials listen to ideas that will help solve these major problems. Let the citizens of this great country come up with the ideas for solutions. Congress and the President can make a few changes and then vote to implement them and get us out of the oil predicament that we’re in.
I am a proponent of alternative, renewable energy and find a lot to like in the Picken’s Plan.
Having said that I think that it may be a tough row to hoe. We, as American citizens have watched for decades while we became more and more dependent on foreign oil to where it is now approaching 75% of our consumption.
Our leaders in congress or in the White House seem to care little about the country or its citizens, focusing all their energy on getting elected or reelected rather than dealing with issues affecting our future. Where are the incentives to promote alternatives? They pretty much died when Carter left office with little since then. The lip service we currently receive from government is mostly just that- Lip service. Our leadership is of the “make ‘em happy right now- To heck with future generations.” attitude.
Without people like Pickens giving some thoughtful direction and Congress doing something about it this energy crisis will be ignored and forgotten when prices drop a little.
The convenience store where I buy most of my gasoline is run by a family of Pakistani. I asked Kahlil one day about gasoline prices in Pakistan. He replied that gasoline was only used in rural areas. In urban sections everyone uses compressed natural gas instead of gasoline. It is very expensive to use gasoline in autos and trucks and is avoided whenever possible. CNG is fairly available and causes little pollution.
Do you think they may have something there?
[...] month ago, I wrote an article about the energy problem in the U.S. that, in my opinion, has been caused by our government’s [...]