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His plan is bogus, the more natural gas we use the more we will be importing ... Even though right now Canada is our only real NG supplier they will be producing us with more through their st Petersburg Russia petrocanada plant.. All this oil they send us really uses a lot more natural gas than even our corn based ethanol as far as production.. The oil sand and shale oil actually could heat every household in Canada for a year in a few months.. Ethanol is a real energy waste well so is our top oil importing country ..

Rob you know in 04 I wouldn't have lost power if fpl maintained their infrastructure either.. We really have no need for NG as a power source and heating to pipe it into houses in FL.. I think you really touched on the problem though.. Rather than one source for the whole nation we need several different sources for different areas..

Hey gman! Wow! This is very interesting, indeed! I clicked on the link AND gave my e addy, because I WANT to be available for further contact to them in the future, in order to support this innovative process. What's the deal? Why haven't we heard/ seen more about this? Why is the "hail" aren't we using it? I, personally am sick to death of paying for gas, knowing full well the majority of the cha-ching! is going into the bank account of some smirking, Stinking,
Al-Qaeda, Sandscorpion, Terrorist, Thug. I have never understood WHY we haven't been working on measures to become independent of THEM a long time ago!
EXCELLENT POST!
FOX! WHAT'S YOUR PROBLEM? WHY HAVEN'T YOU ALLOWED THIS TO GO UP SOONER? HMMMMM?????

As for the DIFFERENCES with Ethanol: There’s good reason there’s not a strong demand for Ethanol. It slightly reduces fuel efficiency AND it doesn’t cost much less than gas (which would change with an investment in processing plants that could produce more and use crops other than corn – sugar cane, sugar beets, switch grass, any plant high in sugars – many that are MUCH more efficient than corn (some are 12 TIMES more), and all the stalks of those plants – we can do it all, but the plants making Ethanol are Corn Oil producers – no one wants to invest). There are LOTS of cars around that can run on E85 or any mix of it and gas down to 100% gas. Just look in a mall parking lot for the green road, leaf, or FlexFuel symbols – and you’ll see many more in an Ethanol state. All our Military Bases use it as well – including Florida’s. Ford and GM have been making popular models with this capability for decades. GM currently makes about a dozen and all popular models. Would those people buy it if it cost significantly less than gas – of course they would.

OK, with NG, you throw away emissions equipment which dramatically increases horsepower, and if I’m not mistaken, NG is much more volatile (more powerful burns). I don’t know the figures, but unless I’m missing something key, that means it’s MORE efficient. And it costs about $2.00/gal now in LOW volume and specialized handling (Disney, National Parks, City Fleets and Busses) and would come down with volume. Show people a $2.00/gal more efficient fuel and THEY’LL DEMAND IT! Add to that the health benefits from clean

Hey Deb!
Thanks for dropping in. Seems like there could be lots of reasons. But I think it can be simplified to one. The Oil companies make BILLIONS from reselling oil. And they can keep doing that for many years. They don’t want to reinvent themselves to produce another fuel if they don’t have to. It’s easier and cheaper to take measures to keep us hooked on Petrol. And, they don’t want to be put out of business by Wesson either. There are many more issues involved of course, but I think that’s the major one.

OH, YEAH, THANKS WEBMASTER! 3RD TIME’S A CHARM! THANKS! Would still like to know what was “wrong” with this post.

Hey Deb! The original Webmaster was all right. He was reasonable and on top of things. When we mentioned problems and suggested a good fix, he took care of it. Who knows if he's still around, but things aren't as smooth around here I've noticed (wrong # of comments listed when you look at the list of "All Posts", old posts popping back up - not just the Caylee one, an old "It's Friday!" post on the following Thursday for ex., and this - a good post skipped 3 times for no reason). Lame.

Well, thanks again for stopping by. Always great to see you and your horses. I'd love to have an Icelandic and a Clydesdale one day. I love seeing the Clydes at Busch Gardens. I just hope that the new owners of the Parks will keep the Clydes and also the Parks as Beautiful - Busch parks are so clean and beautifully landscaped too. (InBev forced the sale of Anheuser Busch - everything - breweries & their 9 Theme Parks - if you haven't heard – very sad – LAST large American Brewery and they brought LOTS of $$$ into our country from sales around the World – and they didn’t want to sell – made nice profits [both beer & parks] so that had nothing to do with it). I just happened to take my nephew this year. He LOVED the one Mega-Coaster there and I just happened to cave in and buy a picture of us on it for him. He was sad about the news. But he’s got a great Kodak Moment to always remember how it was. (Even though it was a HIDEOUS shot of me! ==:D)

Pete:

W/ all due respect, you couldn’t have watched Pickens’ video (which is probably why you’re confused about a few things) . . . and, well, you aren’t understanding a lot of things involved here. No conspiracy – rest assured Pete.

For one, Pickens isn’t asking taxpayers or ANYONE to “develop the technology”. It’s DONE. Over a century old. Farmers all had Wind Generators for at LEAST a century (just smaller ones). It WILL work because they already DO WORK; no IF, just DO. (It’s a dam with Wind instead of water.) We already are USING lots of these Mega-Wind Turbines, just not on a Large National Scale – we could and should.

No, it isn’t going to be as you describe . . . It’s NOT a Commercial Venture – can’t be. This is not Satellite HD TV; it’s America’s Pwr Grid. I’m not sure exactly what you’re talking about – sounds like you’ve combined satellites with banking bail-outs and you’re comparing America’s Energy to Satellite TV and Govt. to Commercial – I think you’re a bit mixed up Pete. It’s going to be EXACTLY like adding ANY new power source (new coal plant, nuke plant, dam, etc.) except cheaper, simpler, and no mess before during or after. If you’re not concerned about those, then what’s the Problem?

Henry Ford mass-produced cars; not Americas Highways & Roads, NOR DID HE PAY FOR THEM. We, the taxpayers did and do, because they’re there for us to use. And it’s EXACTLY the same with our National Power Grid. WE pay for it because WE use it. That’s one major reason we PAY taxes. So why do you think Pickens should Pay for the National Pw

gman...

Wind power is doable, but not on the national scale you believe it is. It is not relaible, it is not steady, and it would never be due to the unreliabilty of the weather. It is good to supplement some power, but we cannot rely on it as a base power source.
That is why nuclear is the way to go... clean (with the exception of nuke waste) which would be no issue if the government would get of their butts and open Yucca mountian. If we get nuke and wind (middle states) and solar where and when possible... we could truly move away from oil.

Clean coal would help too... and we would have a clean coal plant being built here in Florida if it weren't for Gov. Crist.

Ugh.. sorry for double post... and I meant here in Orlando with new clean coal technology...

I never thought I'd miss Jeb Bush... but Crist is such an idiot.

What do you know about the NG, Gman? CAN we fill up at home, perhaps using some kind of compressor hooked to a gas line?

What about safety? It sounds dangerous in a wreck, not that gasoline is so great.

Droopyz:
The govt. has done studies on this to determine (estimate) the Min, Max, and Avg NET Wind in those regions. (see: Pickens’ video) I’m sure he’s using the numbers they’ve published since he mentions it.

I anticipated your comment about “weather”, because that would be a reasonable and common misunderstanding. I have 2 points to make regarding this: 1) Variances in weather are exactly the sort of problem that a Large National Scale deployment (i.e. Pickens’ Central States in Yellow) WOULD NORMALIZE. Think about it like this: If you have only ONE turbine, you’ll get pwr only when the wind is blowing on it. If you have TWO in different locations - connected, you’ll get pwr when wind is blowing on either or both. If you have THREE, you’ll get pwr when wind is blowing on any one, two, or three. If you have 100s or 1000s, ALL CONNECTED TO THE NATIONAL PWR GRID(S), you’ll ALWAYS get pwr unless the Planet stops spinning. By compiling wind data in particular areas together, you can determine the Min, Max, and Average WIND density/MegaWatts throughout the network, which has been done. This is what Pickens is talking about. A “test” town is currently running on WIND in Sweetwater TX. And neither he nor I am saying that Wind replaces ALL POWER SOURCES or is a BASE; Again, it will replace $300,000,000,000.00 WORTH OF MID EAST OIL. It will supplement our overall power needs. That’s our solution – to use multiple power sources.

OK and 2) There are places on this planet where wind is Strong and Continuous or nearly so. Mnt. Passes/Valley

northton:
That would be great to fill up at home. But I would bet the type of compressor needed would be too expensive for home use and that the avg homeowner wouldn’t be prepared for the potential dangers or maintaining it properly.

The dangers have crossed my mind too. I don’t know the details, but apparently they’ve engineered the CNG fuel systems to satisfy acceptable safety standards for passenger vehicles – because there are 8 Million in the USA and more around the World. I’ve never heard of an NG vehicle exploding. . . . Yet, it seems inherently Hindenburg-like. But I’ve had the same thoughts about Hydrogen, yet General Motors has 100 Hydrogen SUV’s on the roads NOW with ordinary families in 3 States (VA, CA, & NY) for their full everyday unlimited use – been running for just over 1 year now. GM has also been running Hydrogen SUVs with Fed-Ex in Japan for at least 3 years now as well as in Germany. No Hindenburg/Space Shuttle-esque explosions that I know of. Apparently they’ve met the govt. safety standards in crash tests, or they wouldn’t be cruising around public streets.

I’ve read up a bit on the tanks for Hydro cars – don’t know if the one’s used in consumer NG vehicles would be the same, but probably very similar. I read that the Hydro tanks would likely not be owned nor would they be a part of the vehicles (not the case with current NG cars however – I’ve seen the pumps). In that case, we would buy the Hydro like we buy propane – in the tanks. A typical passenger car would likely house 3 or 4 tanks in a

My thoughts on the part about using the NG in cars:

Personally, I’m not LOVING the idea of using the Freed-up NG for cars. BUT . . . No big deal if we don’t. We can use it to replace the Oil used to generate electricity, we could run ALL busses, fleets(commercial like Fed-Ex AND govt.), and Mass Transit vehicles on it, whatever.

As for alt-fueled cars, I’d prefer an electric car like Chevy’s Volt, which goes on sale in 2010 provided the new Mega-Lithium batt is ready. The car is ready to go, the batt is still being developed but progress is on-target for 2010. Charge it up at home . . . off a solar-powered charger even . . . and go.

We need to make steps like this one. It’s not the WHOLE solution to energy independence. It’s one BIG $300 BILLION / YEAR CHUNK of it though. And it’s all positives.

Not to mention that there are plenty of conventional generators that can run when wind and solar are offline.

Droopy, rather than just sitting at the power plant perhaps you should use your noggin to learn some basics.

northton... I think I know the basics... or you may not have the power at your house to try and slam me, unprovoked, I might add.

The theory of what you are saying is great... but it truly impractical.
1) Large wind turbines do not provide as much power as you may think
2) Large national grids, there are to many losses in transferring power to expect a city in Montana to be supplied from turbines in Arizona.

Overall, I am all for "alternative" enrgy sourges. I think we need to be smart though, and go for nuclear and clean coal as well...

I think Clean coal, Nuclear, and the alternatives put together should

1) Lower the use of coal with less emission control
2) Lower our dependence on oil.