Pickens Plan
July 29th, 2008 by Grant in: Alternative Energy, EnergyTo be honest, I’m not really sure what to think of T. Boone Picken’s “plan”. He’s been showing up fairly frequently on T.V. as of late pushing his plan for energy independence.
A noble cause, to be sure, and I don’t think he’s too far out of line here. At least on the surface. But look a little bit deeper.
Mr. Pickens is a business man at heart and he’s certainly done well for himself as an oil man. Now he’s looking to capitalize on the alternative energy push.
Why does he want you to buy into his plan? Because he’s got a ton of his own money dumped into wind energy. And I’m talking billions of dollars going towards wind farm development in Texas. Then there’s drilling for water in West Texas and shipping it to Dallas via pipeline, all funded by, you guessed it, Pickens himself. So the real incentive for Pickens plan is to make money. Naturally.
If he can get you on board, he certainly reaps the benefits.
As I mentioned, PickensPlan (on the surface) is a good step in the right direction, and we can all certainly benefit if we gain an independence from foreign oil. However, all you have to do is follow the money to find the true incentive behind the message.
Of course, this should all sound eerily familiar. Remember Sir Al Gore, Nobel Prize winner?
I believe his message went something like this: Man has caused global warming, global warming is melting the ice caps, will flood the shorelines and cause drought and famine all across the world…
And oh by the way, be sure to see my movie on this topic, buy carbon credits from my company, and try and look past the fact that I consume more energy in one month than you do in seventeen…
Tags: Alternative Energy | Pickens Plan | T. Boone Pickens
Leave comments below.
Subscribe to Comments
Loading ...
July 29th, 2008 at 10:04 am
Excellent post Grant. People need to remember that these guys are capitalists with an agenda….and the agenda always boils down to making money. What makes them good is their propaganda skills.
July 31st, 2008 at 3:20 pm
As one NPR reporter noted, T-Bone’s pitch comes down to the following. “Why keep sending all of these American dollars abroad to buy expensive energy when, with the help of new government subsidies, you could buy more expensive energy from me?” And since he’s replacing natural gas, which burns with almost no emissions, we’re not really improving global warming.
August 10th, 2008 at 9:47 pm
What is the problem here guys? It is better to get energy from an American entrepreneur than a middle eastern country, right? It is better to convert to wind and solar than continue with petroleum. There are some 50 years of petroleum left, the sun has 5.5 billion years left, and at least to this observer, wind will continue to blow across the plains.
There is no better spokesman for wind energy that a billionaire oil man. Were you guys upset when he was making money on oil? What is wrong with making money on domestic energy?
By the way, he is spending $58 million of his own money on the advertising campaign. I think the American phrase is put your money where your mouth is.
David
August 11th, 2008 at 4:57 pm
$58 million of his own money on advertising? That’s nothing compared to the $2 BILLION he’s spending on 667 GE wind turbines!
David, I agree with your sentiment, and I’m on board with the overall effort.
But look at T. Boone Picken’s incentive to push his “plan”. It’s not to save the Earth, it’s to make money. I really don’t have a problem with that at all, and I think if you can guide capitalism to change the world for the better, I’m all for it.
The problem I have is that he’s leveraging the fear of economic turmoil to help him make his money.
Take for instance the first several lines of his “plan” on the website:
Not a single factual statement in that, but how could you not be on board with what ever plan he has drawn up after reading about having our hands tied while we’re in this crisis that threatens our national security! Anyone against this plan would be unAmerican!
It’s not the effort, it’s not the goal, it’s not the money. It’s the sales pitch that I have the problem with, and it’s the same sales pitch we got from Al Gore.
The world is going to end unless we band together and do something. Start by buying carbon offsets from my new company!