All About The Picken's Plan

You hear it mentioned in the news and on TV, but what do you really know about it? The plan is developed by T. Boone Pickens, a Texas oil billionaire, with the goal of utilizing natural resources for energy.

(Editors Note: HomeActions is a member of the Pickens Plan and will frequently bring you updates on this grass roots effort)

In a letter from Pickens printed in the Wall Street Journal, he says "there are two numbers everybody should keep in mind. The first is 70% - that's how much of our oil comes from foreign nations. The second is $700 billion - that's how much of our money is sent overseas to pay for that oil every year." But he believes he has the solution - "a blueprint to reduce foreign oil dependence by harnessing domestic energy alternatives and buying time for us to develop even greater new technologies."

While the demand for oil continues to rise, oil production is falling. The expense of oil production keeps increasing and the supply is more difficult to find. However, the Pickens Plan, which is based on using renewable energy sources, will reduce the need to import oil. The Pickens Plan Solution? Using wind power and natural gas to produce energy. According to The Department of Energy, 20% of our electricity can be derived from wind power. While building wind facilities that can handle the production of electricity needed would be expensive, it's an investment that would easily payoff in the future.

It is a one-time cost and not the ongoing and astronomical expense incurred over the course of each year. Using natural gas as an energy source for transportation. Natural gas vehicles are already in production and are considered a cleaner form of transportation. The cost of natural gas is much less than diesel or gasoline - a big consideration when dealing with the economy we currently face. The Pickens Plan website states that we "currently use natural gas to produce 22% of our electricity".

By using wind power to generate more electricity, we can then put natural gas to use in the transportation industry. T. Boone Pickens believes that "building new wind generation facilities and better utilizing our natural gas resources can replace more than one-third of our foreign oil imports in 10 years."

An in-depth website, at http://www.pickensplan.com/theplan, gives you an abundance of information on the Pickens Plan. This includes links for forums, news articles, videos and the ability to sign up as a member.