An Oilman Bets on Wind

T. Boone Pickens, entrepreneur and oil billionaire, launched an energy plan Tuesday that he claims could reduce U.S. dependence on foreign oil by more than one-third and help guide the country towards greater production of renewable energy.

The Pickens Plan, which calls the U.S. “the Saudi Arabia of wind power,” would utilize the country’s “wind corridor” to provide 20 percent of the country’s electricity (hat tip: Slashdot).

Besides generating an economic revival, the plan boasts the ability to free up natural gas to be used as transportation fuel.  Climate Progress, however, calls that aspect of the plan “utterly impractical,” noting how inefficiently vehicles and fueling stations would use natural gas.  “Natural gas is simply too useful and expensive to squander in such a fashion,” the article states.

Pickens nonetheless is putting his money on wind power, having already invested $2 billion into building the world’s largest wind farm in Texas, according to the CNN article.  If his plan were to be adopted, he says, the U.S. could save more than $230 billion in reduced foreign oil imports.  To hear the oil mogul himself make the case for wind, click here.