Pickens Plan District Group MI-01

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Comment by J matson heininger on May 12, 2009 at 11:21am

Smart windturbines, to improve wind power href="http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/05/090501154141.htm">

Comment by Jessica Vanden Berg on April 15, 2009 at 2:07am

From the desk of T. Boone Pickens


Hey Army!
Congress is on its Spring break, but that doesn’t mean they’re out of touch. Most U.S. Senators and Representatives are back in their home states and districts willing to meet with and listen to their constituents.
That’s you!
When they left for their recess legislation had been introduced to promote natural gas; to promote energy efficiency; to promote a 21st century transmission grid; and to promote a national Renewable Energy Standard – in short to promote THE PICKENS PLAN.
In my business career I have seen too many people miss out because they thought that getting close was good enough. You and I know that when you are close, that’s the time to turn up the heat and push the ball over the goal line.
Click here to send your Member of Congress an e-mail - today. Drive over to one of their local offices and chat with a staffer. Click here to coordinate an event with fellow Pickens Plan supporters in your area by joining your District Group.
Let’s keep the pressure on and we’ll win for the Pickens Plan, but more important, we’ll win for America.


T. Boone Pickens

Comment by Jessica Vanden Berg on March 10, 2009 at 2:45pm

The Pickens Plan is organizing a Virtual March on Washington to be held April 1-3, 2009.


So what is a "Virtual March"?

We are going to utilize the size and unique capabilities of the New Energy Army to have an enormous impact on the White House and Congress. The Army will focus its energy during those three days on e-mails, calls and faxes to every Member of Congress.

Between now and then we will be engaging in a series of activities to get ready for the event, including:

* Contacting Members of Congress through email and phone calls to encourage support for key aspects of the Pickens Plan.

* Recruiting new members of the Army in every Congressional District.

* Submitting letters to the editor and op-eds to newspapers around the country.

* Holding district meetings and house parties with members of the Army to discuss ways to have an impact.

* Participating in webcast events.

We will be communicating with members of the Army via email, Push, Facebook, MySpace, Twitter and LinkedIn to build support and enthusiasm for the event. Make sure you are connected to us on any of these platforms where you have a profile!


Be sure to take photos and videos of your activities over the next couple months - we will soon be inviting you to submit items to be featured here on the Virtual March homepage.

Sign up today to participate in the Virtual March and recruit your friends and family to join you!

(If you are interested in visiting your Members of Congress during the virtual march, please contact your Regional and/or District Leader for more information.)

Comment by tom Kuchnicki on January 23, 2009 at 6:46am

Hi Stu
NG cars in in Europe. What are the numbers?
US regs on NG cylinders and US regs on mounting may be much more severe than in Europe.
I know of one US reg , that of shooting the NG cylinder with a certain caliber gun, I wonder if European regs include that test?
Hauling an extra 200+ pounds of cylinders and supports hurts gas milage.
Algae can be grown much faster than trees or corn and has much greater yield.
I have a question for you.
Why do we import so much LNG if we have all this excess NG Pickens is telling us we have?

Comment by STU LACH on January 22, 2009 at 10:54pm

Hi Tom , they are using natgas cars and trucks in europe today, so what does that tell you? As for algae, can you grow it fast enough to meet our current gas consumption? I doubt it.

Comment by tom Kuchnicki on January 22, 2009 at 9:09pm

Hi Stu.
Honda has a NC vehicle available right now. (Dismal Sales so right now the car is available only in CA). Honda was offering a home fill system for around $4500.00 but Honda sold their interest in the fill system and does not offer it now.
NC in lightweight trucks might be feasible, but all of the US manufacturers tried it and dropped it. Chrysler had the best selection. Ford tried NG in police cars but that didn't pan out either.
John Q Public just won't accept riding around with a couple 6000PSI cylinders under their car.
The price of the NG cylinders is very high and the mounting of the cylinders to keep them safe in an accidend is expensive and a severe weight penalty.
Natural gas is sold as a heating fuel so there is no regulation on the octane of the fuel Water heaters and furnaces don't care about octane, therefore manufacturers cannot take advantage of the 110 octane potential.
The octane of natural gas coming down the pipeline can vary fro 80 to 110 octane, Manufacturers would have to design to to the lower limit.
Another HUGH FACTOR is our system of lawyers. One explosion and you would have to give away any remaining inventory.
Even if we designed cars to run efficiently on NG and you got the public to accept the 6000 psi tanks, there is another problem of quick filling the NG tanks.
You can't refuel the tanks quickly. If you use high pressure to fill the tanks the gas heats up and expands. You end up with a 70% fill.
I wouldn't be to hasty on downplaying biofuels.athere is a new technology out there that uses Algae to make Biofuel and the Algae can be grown using sea water.
Check it out

Comment by STU LACH on January 22, 2009 at 7:05pm

Hey Tom, I Googled Ford natgas cars and found a USA Today article from 07/05/2007 about natgas cars , Ford, Honda and Chryco's cars and a guy using a commercially available home filling system. Good article. Check it out.

Comment by STU LACH on January 22, 2009 at 6:44pm

Hey Tom, check www.greencars.com. GM of Germany has 2 Van models available there that run on natgas.One van is more for commercial applications and the other for family use.They seem to have the tech sorted out.As far as availability of supply, there is a system available to fuel up from your home's natgas connection. The more likely system would be at existing gas stations which shouldn't be difficult to add on. Most areas already have Natgas pipelines so this can be plumbed to the stations easily. Hydrogen would have to be trucked to stations so that's not very efficient. The great thing about these vans is they've already been in production over there so building them here would just require retooling at GM's plants here. I haven't checked yet but probably Ford and Chryco also build natgas vehicles in Europe. This has to be a better way to go over biofuel which is so in-efficient cost wise, not to mention the waste of food/feed stocks.

Comment by tom Kuchnicki on December 29, 2008 at 11:34am

Hello,Jeff
I am not going to attend the Detroit auto show, plus i do not think that is the place to get answers about CNG.
It will take some extensive study and questioning to get a real answer.
I believe you are not going to get much support out of any auto manufacturer.
The best bet is to talk to Honda officials because they currently have a CNG vehicle available to a very limited market because of very slow sales.

Comment by Marta LaLonde on December 11, 2008 at 2:16am

here in the Sault and Kinross area everyone is talking about the bio-fuel plant to be built in Kinross, Mascoma. they are wondering if it will help the economy, the ecology, etc. It isn't scheduled until 2010.comments?...