A Man With A Plan

A Man With A Plan
By: Timothy Boe, NCARB, AIA
www.eco-tects.com

If you didn't know him as a business mogul it would be fair to assume that someone named T Boone Pickens played Country Music...or possibly even the sang the Blues. In actual fact, he is singing – and lots of people are starting to listen. Oil tycoon turned green energy promoter – Thomas Boone has a plan. Appropriately dubbed "The Pickens Plan," the website by the same name has attracted more than a million subscribers in only it's first three months of existence. Today it has become one of the most heavily trafficked sites in the world.

As an ecology magazine, Eco-Tips is always on the prowl for cutting edge news that might impact our environmental fortunes. Keeping in mind that Thomas Edison flunked out of school in the third grade and Einstein started out as a patent clerk, we try to maintain the attitude that bright ideas may come from any sector. Business school 101 loves to use the example of railroads falling on hard times by thinking that they were in the "train" business, instead of the business of transportation. If they had realized the latter, they would have been positioned when the development of air technology became a factor.

T Boone Pickens is a "self made" man – one of the things that "made" him, (made him rich anyway) was oil. A classic American success story, the former paperboy from Holdenville, Okla. has recently published his personal memoir, softly titled, "The First Billion is the Hardest." Not willing to make the same mistake as the railroads – at 80 years of age Pickens has now become a "poster boy" for the alternative "green" energy movement. Referring to the great plains as the "Saudi Arabia of wind energy" Pickens is calling for private investors to spend a trillion dollars to put up windmills stretching from the Texas Panhandle all the way up to Canada. A lot of money, but "it's a bargain" says Pickens compared to the 700 billion that the USA spends overseas every year to quench the country's thirst for oil.

Besides wind power, the Pickens Plan also calls for a movement to use natural gas as an alternative to gasoline or diesel fuel. Much cleaner burning than gasoline, natural gas is also readily available locally. Of the natural gas used in the USA, 98% comes from North America, while 70% of our oil, on the other hand, is purchased from overseas. While it is a cheap, and versatile fuel, transportation in the United States relies on natural gas for less than 1% of it's fuel needs. In the meantime, natural gas engines have been highly perfected and are now powering the Honda Civic GX Natural Gas Vehicle – the cleanest internal-combustion vehicle in the world according to the EPA.

While Detroit currently reels from the crushing blow it took after miscalculating the wants of the American motorist and their willingness to buy "muscle cars" in an age of high priced gas, Asia is more than happy to provide a green alternative. True to form, Honda, Toyota and their off-shoots are leading the way in fuel economy and clean burning, low emissions engines. Viewed as an opportunity instead of a disaster, American automakers can become a vital cog in the emerging green economy by taking the lead in the development of cars and trucks fueled by natural gas – a plentiful, affordable, clean and locally available resource. Pickens reminds us that the technology is already there and available. US automakers just have to embrace the future and step out of the past.

Non-partisan, and fiercely independent, Pickens has none the less rubbed elbows with his share of political power-brokers. Nonetheless he seems to have no problem with people who say that he is picking up on what Al Gore started. Hosted by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to speak at a clean-energy summit in Las Vegas, along with Bill Clinton, Pickens has also remained friendly with another former oilman... George W. Bush. Today, T Boone Pickens, while hob-nobbing on both sides of the Congressional aisle, is also calling for the American people to speak out in favor of clean-energy independence. Echoing what both Presidential candidates have called for in the creation of new American green jobs – Pickens is sponsoring a petition drive to say "let's do it now!"

In one of his recent interviews T Boone contrasted himself to Washington by saying that when he sees a pool table he is looking for the "straight-in shot." The politicians on Capitol Hill however can't seem to see the straight shot because they are always looking for combinations and trying to sink more than one ball on the same stroke. Recalling the promises made by 35 years of Presidents to reduce the import of oil, Pickens is pointing to a graph showing that the USA has gone from importing 24% of it's oil in 1970 to 70% today...and growing. With this statistic in mind, Pickens believes that all good intentions notwithstanding, the US Government needs a strong push to reverse this trend. We at Eco-Tips wholeheartedly agree with that assessment.

Accordingly the Pickens Plan includes a petition insisting that the new Administration back up their "green" promises with immediate and decisive action. At the end of this article there is a link that will allow you to access a copy of that petition, should you want to add your name to the list in excess of 1,300,000 people who have signed on since it was released in July. My recommendation would be to review the plan and if it makes sense to you, then lend your voice to the call for energy independence.

Is it worth killing for oil?

In reviewing the Pickens Plan in some great detail, I am inclined to agree that it is consistent with the current goals of the eco-movement. In saying that I would point out that it calls for a decisive step towards renewable and cleaner energy sources, and a weaning away from our national dependence on oil. Yes, it's true that people like T Boone Pickens who are investing early in the green energy movement stand to make a lot of money as it progresses, but in that fact lies our ecological promise. If the development of clean, renewable alternative energy sources depended entirely on the altruistic nature of our society, then the prospect of energy independence would be dim. Combine good will with return on investment however, and you have just created one of the most powerful renewable energy sources known to man.

Everything begins with a vision. In order to succeed that vision must then be translated into a plan. As it unfolds, that plan may need to be adjusted to incorporate the realities that it's implementation reveals. The United States started out with a vision. The Industrial Revolution converted it's waterfronts and rolling planes into cities, along with everything that cities need to thrive. As that vision has unfolded we now realize that the "real cost" in terms of the blows delivered to our once pristine home has resulted in much too high a price to pay.

Can an 80 year old former oilman really translate the success he achieved in the fossil fuel industry to help others see a way to restore the ecology and provide energy independence for our nation? Pickens believes that the energy crisis and our continued reliance on the "good will" of other countries to feed our addiction to oil represents the biggest national threat we have faced since World War II. Compare your ideas for a workable plan to his and see if they align. My personal assessment is that at this tender stage of it's development, the Pickens Plan is a very good place from which we may collectively start.

In considering the "plan" you may have your own ideas as to how to make it better. That's a good thing, and hopefully is the kind of thinking that it will stimulate. Keep in mind however, that Washington is brimming with bright ideas that never see the light of day. In terms of what is being proposed by T Boone Pickens, there is one singular theme that needs to be seized and repeated. Tell our elected officials that whatever we do – let's get started doing it now!

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Timothy Boe is an architect and founder of BOE ALLIANCE INTERNATIONAL. With almost forty years of experience in the design and building industry, Mr. Boe brings a vast knowledge of numerous building types, as well as a considerable body of experience in urban design and planned communities. During his long career, Mr. Boe has been involved in numerous environmentally related projects, including several that have been bestowed awards for thoughtful re-use of "brownfield" properties, innovative planning solutions and adaptive re-use of properties involving lead base paint, asbestos abatement, site clean-up, wetlands enhancements and the creation of wildlife sanctuaries for threatened species. Mr. Boe has also served continuously since 1989 on the Board of Directors for Windwalker International... a sustainable alternative energy company.