Wind Power Finally Getting Its Due

Earlier this month I made a point of going to WINDPOWER 2009, the world's largest conference on wind energy. Yes, it was in the Windy City, but the truth is it's not always in Chicago. Next year's conference will be here in Dallas and you need to put it on your calendar.

A decade ago you could have packed everyone who showed up at an event like this in a pint-sized 7-11. Those days are gone. Last year, attendance at this event topped 13,000. This year? More than 23,000. And it wasn't just exhibitors (though there were close to 2,000 of them there as well). The roster of key policymakers who participated at WINDPOWER 2009 was impressive, including Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, Energy Secretary Steven Chu, and FERC Chairman Jon Wellinghof. All of them echoed the statements made by President Obama that alternative energy and renewables are important elements in this administration's energy plan.

That's not just sound energy policy but it's good for the economy as well. Business is booming in the wind energy sector, and you know who is most keenly aware of that? America's governors. Over the last year as I've been promoting the Pickens Plan, I've met wind state governors such as Brian Schweitzer of Montana, Bill Richardson of New Mexico, and Jon Huntsman of Utah. Back when she was Governor of Kansas, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius hosted the very first Pickens Plan Town Hall Meeting in Topeka.

But what really stood out was the governors who attended WINDPOWER in Chicago were not from traditional wind power states. They were from Michigan, Wisconsin, Iowa, Ohio, and of course, Illinois. If you take a look at the Energy Department's wind map, you'll see that these states are not in the Wind Corridor, which runs the length of the Great Plains from the Texas Panhandle to the Canadian border. Yet, they are profiting from wind energy, thanks to the enormous number of job that are being created to manufacture turbines and other equipment, build infrastructure, and improve efficiency. These states have a vested interest in wind energy.

We all do. Right now there are wind farms and manufacturing facilities in 48 out of 50 states. While our country is fighting its way out of a recession, this industry and others in the burgeoning green economy are bright spots, creating permanent, good-paying jobs, putting people to work, and helping America cement its status as a global leader in the energy industry.

This is one of the basic principles of the Pickens Plan, and it goes straight to the heart of what I've been talking about since I launched the plan last July. Right here in America, we've got plenty of energy waiting to be tapped. The only problem is that for the last four decades we haven't had the leadership to harness it or develop it or drill for it. Instead, we took the easy way out. Cheap imported oil became the crutch that everyone leaned on, only now we know it's not cheap anymore.

Last year, as our economy stalled, we spent $475 billion on imported oil. Can you believe that? I can't. Half a trillion dollars. The greatest transfer of wealth in recorded history. And to make matters worse we still haven't learned our lesson. According to figures just released, our trade deficit on oil imports widened in March for the first time in eight months. We're still importing more than two-thirds of the oil we consume, and that's got to stop.

The purpose of the Pickens Plan was to put a lot of ideas on the table in order to help our country develop the energy plan it so desperately needs and deserves. Wind energy is one of the best, and if you don't believe me come to Dallas next year and see for yourself at WINDPOWER 2010.

Follow T. Boone Pickens on Twitter: www.twitter.com/pickensplan

Comments

[Greenguy25]

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[alvdh1]

The only reason Bush supported wind was to divert federal dollars to Tex-ass where most of the wind power growth has occured since 2000. Otherwise, he could have cared less about wind.

[sensiblethinking]

Many supposed "facts" about energy and "global warming" are not as they seem. But one thing is clear....if you can get people to pressure the government to give you what you want.....there is a lot of money to be made!!!

[elmerfude]

What! Are you a commie? So what if money is made on clean energy. That is better than making it by usury.

[mioffe]

I am sorry to tell that, but Mr. Picken you are on wrong directions:
Mr. Picken are writing about peak oil production (2005), huge price for oil - $700 billion dollars this year.
Solutions: wind power for electricity, Natural Gas Vehicles for transportation.
Will it work? Of course it will; it is working right now in small scale. If we will put billions in these directions it will work in huge scale as huge monuments all around our country for our stupidity and misunderstanding of global warming.
Let look how Picken plan correlates with global warming?
Mr. Picken as many others very famous persons in the world and mass media did not understand role of wind to cool the air. Wind energy evaporates a lot of water from any surfaces of rivers, lakes, seas, and oceans. It evaporates water from the grass, bushes and trees. Any uses of wind energy will reduce these cooling effects of wind.

[mioffe]

Kinetic energy of the wind in the atmosphere send hot air from the land or water surface to the high level of atmosphere where it is easy for heat to escape to the space.
Kinetic energy of the wind met the small droplets of water in fog, clouds, and all green vegetables, especially in leaves of trees around all atmospheres on the Earth. These processes produce water vapor that invisible greenhouse gas, which always go up to cloud level and cool the Earth better than anything else.
Mr. Picken think that wind power did not produce pollution. It is not true. Production of millions wind turbines, batteries need energy. Electricity from these turbines is also pollutant –heat pollutant. In case when others processes in human activity will add greenhouse gases in the atmosphere any heat sources- wind, or nuclear, or geothermal and many others will increase amount of heat that will heat air and will be reason for global warming.
Any our attempt to produce source of energy without production additional sources of water vapor will heat the atmosphere and increase risk of global warming.
Let look how Picken plan uses energy sources?
Natural Gas Vehicles for transportation need huge investment to change our cars, where real efficiency in most cases will be less than 1%.
We need destroy all power plants and their distribution lines, which right now produce electricity-using energy of natural gas.

[mioffe]

If windmills produce electricity we are loosing around 50% of wind energy on resistance of batteries, when we charge them. When we use batteries around 50% of their energy will be loosing when power from batteries will go to customers. Efficiency of this process around 25% in best case.
Windmills can work directly pumping perhaps water to grow forests. Efficiency of using wind power will be increased at least tree times. We will have useful job without complication of electrical energy production.
GE can design and build small power plants (for ten-hundred thousands of people), which will use natural gas, where we can use as electrical, as heat energy and look forwards to use in the same power plant as natural gas as wood as source of energy.
GE can design and build 10 kg electrical carts for one person as main transportation system of our future (I have ideas how to make it happen).
GE with cooperation with Companies which specialized in building road systems, working together to build new completely automated transportation systems in North America with three levels without any intersection on second and third level.
These directions can not only solve independence from foreign source of energy, but also global warming problems and reduce weather disaster problems.
These directions will give jobs and new opportunity for all North America citizens with 100% of employment for nearest hundred years.

[AllenD]

Too bad we can't get that type of attendance at the Association for the Study of Peak Oil and Gas (ASPO) conferences. I would like to see an emphasis on moving freight by electrified rail, powered by wind turbines and have the natural gas used to phase out the coal powered plants.

[noneIn2008]

You got your $4.8 billion for your power grid. This was a good return on your advertising. After Bush doubled then tripped wind power, we now get 1% of our power from wind. Maybe in another 10 years we can get 2%.