All These Ideas!

Lots of good ideas all around this site... but, one step at a time. Let's remember that regardless of whatever technology or power generating systems we may want to see utilized in America to get us off foreign oil, the physical part of the PickensPlan is ONLY about building wind farms to supplant the NatGas currently being used to create electricity. Maybe it will expand in the future, but right now, thats all the PP addresses, as I currently understand it.

But its also about something else. It's about changing our collective thinking. It's about using an existing technology on a massive scale, transforming it from a fringe element to a mainstay of power generation, and at the same time possibly changing the social paradigm about other forms of alternative electric power generation. It's about Publicly stating to the Nation that one guy who sees a crisis and wants to invest his money into a solution and needs the help of the rest of us to persuade our "leadership" to get onboard with this idea.

EDIT THIS POST ON 7/17/08 I feel I have to revise my earlier statement about what the PP is. While listening to T Boones Commercial last night, I observed something that hadn't registered earlier, and is not included in his White Board Presentation video on the 'media' page. Quoting T Boone, "... harnessing domestic wind and solar power" "...using American technology and Alternative Energy." Additionally while watching T Boone on C-SPAN stating that his belief is America needs to Reduce its Dependency on Foreign Oil. One could argue, that RDFO is the real Pickens Plan, and the Wind Turbines and NatGas elements are just core functions for achieving that goal. In this interview T Boone states that "the PP starts with harnessing wind and building out solar."

Next Post >

Comment

You need to be a member of PickensPlan to add comments!

Join this Ning Network

Comment by Thomas on July 23, 2008 at 1:30pm: Knowledge is Power. America now has some serious issues that must be dealt with. In the past Americans have been acting like Bobble Heads Dolls. We have not paid attention to what is really the cause of huge job losses and the general anomic condition of the USA.

I found a couple of outstanding sites that gives a clear picture of our fix. www.renewableenergyworld.com and do a search for Sea Power.

Electricity Rate Comparison by State

Nebraska is the only state that generates electricity entirely by publicly-owned power systems. As of February, 2008, the statewide average price for all sectors from all electric utilities is the sixth-lowest rate in the country, based on the latest federal figures. Nationally, electricity costs 53 percent more than it does in Nebraska. Across all sectors, Hawaii has the highest electricity rate (27 cents), and Idaho has the lowest electricity rate (5.29 cents).

A comparison of electricity rates within individual sectors in all states can be found in the report Average Revenue per Kilowatthour from Retail Sales to Ultimate Consumers by Sector and by State. The table below provides the monthly average across all sectors. The annual average for each sector and across all sectors is also available for each state and has been mapped for all sectors and for the individual residential, commercial, and industrial sectors.

The archive has reports from prior months.

Average Revenue per Kilowatthour by State
(Lowest to Highest Rate as of February 2008)

Rank State Average Electricity Rate for
All Sectors
(Cents per Kilowatthour)
1 Idaho 5.29
2 Wyoming 5.45
3 West Virginia 5.47
4 Kentucky 5.66
5 Missouri 5.81
6 Nebraska 5.84
7 Utah 6.01
8 Iowa 6.15
9 North Dakota 6.50
10 Indiana 6.59
11 Kansas 6.71
12 South Dakota 6.73
13 Washington 6.73
14 Arkansas 6.88
15 Oklahoma 7.02
16 Tennessee 7.11
17 Virginia 7.12
18 South Carolina 7.25
19 Minnesota 7.35
20 Alabama 7.52
21 Oregon 7.56
22 North Carolina 7.63
23 New Mexico 7.69
24 Colorado 7.73
25 Georgia 7.97
26 Mississippi 7.97
27 Ohio 7.97
28 Louisiana 8.10
29 Arizona 8.14
30 Montana 8.38
31 Wisconsin 8.49
32 Illinois 8.55
33 Michigan 8.66
National Average 8.96
34 Pennsylvania 9.08
35 Texas 9.79
36 Nevada 9.82
37 Florida 10.19
38 Delaware 11.42
39 California 11.92
40 Maryland 12.06
41 Vermont 12.08
42 District of Columbia 12.56
43 New Jersey 13.44
44 Maine 13.63
45 Rhode Island 13.79
46 Alaska 13.80
47 New Hampshire 13.86
48 Massachusetts 15.07
49 New York 15.14
50 Connecticut 16.27
51 Hawaii 26.79
Source: Electric Power Monthly. Energy Information Administration, Washington, DC. Nebraska Energy Office, Lincoln, NE.

This table was updated on July 10, 2008. Typically, there is one month between updates.

Energy Statistics Home | Contact Us | Archive | Conversion Chart | Glossary

Comment by Paul M. Roberts on July 18, 2008 at 8:49am: Global Warming eng comp.docI agree we need to focus on "the plan", but the plan should be do as much clean energy devolopement right now by getting funding from investors or here is a thought; why don't the great government of the District of Washington D.C give us back our money so we can invest in companies with proven and viable working models.Paul R.

Comment by Brad Bates on July 16, 2008 at 6:21am: David, your post is on target and something I probably need to reread every day. Focus.

Thanks!

Comment by Peter Adams on July 13, 2008 at 7:24pm: We have been hearing about this since the early 70's. We can wait no longer to do something. We have a great country and we have the ability to do amazing things. Right now, we have no energy policy. We are all to blame because we have elected people who have chosen to avoid this 3rd rail. I think we need a program like the space program where goals are set and this selling our soul to oil producers is curtailed to a level where the final goal of zero dependance on gasoline is at least somewhere on the radar screen.

Comment by Robert Grass on July 13, 2008 at 6:15pm: David,

Thank-you for that. We need to keep coming back to what we can do now instead of running off to what we do next. It's easy to find fault with anything unfortunately, but finding fault doesn't move us even one step closer . . . stay on task!