A
s Damascene conversions go, the
example of T Boone Pickens takes some
Earth sciences and energy
beating. Mr Pickens has iconic status in
the United States: a man who represented
the oil industry as its enterprising and
swashbuckling best; a self-made billionaire
who boasted of the American dream in all
its capitalist glory.
So when the legendary fi gure began
campaigning for wind energy in July this
year, America, and the world, took notice.
The US imports 70% of its oil, which this
year means that the country will spend
about $700 billion (£480 billion) importing
the fuel; if it is to maintain its dependence
on foreign oil, the projected cost to the US
over the next 10 years will be $10,000 bil-
lion (£6860 billion). Mr Pickens describes it
as, ‘the greatest transfer of wealth in the
history of mankind’.
This is not just talk; Pickens is investing
billions of dollars to build the world’s biggest
wind farm in Texas – the heart of the US oil
country. This state has already approved a
$4.9 billion (£2.7 billion) plan to build trans-
mission lines to channel wind energy from
the plains of west Texas to large cities such
as Dallas.
In addition, the American Wind Energy
Association said in September that the US
wind industry had raced past the 20,000-
megawatt installed capacity milestone to
become the world leader in wind electricity
generation.
The power of wind
Wind now produces enough electricity to
serve 5.3 million American homes – just
over 1.5% of the nation’s electricity. It is
one of the nation’s fastest growing elec-
tricity sources, providing 35% of the total
new capacity added in 2007 – second only
to natural gas.
“Wind energy installations are well ahead
of the curve for contributing 20% of the US
electric power supply by 2030 as envisioned
by the US Department of Energy,” says
Randall Swisher, executive director of the
American Wind Energy Association.
Some would say that this is too good to
be true. The problem with wind energy is
reliability – or lack or it. Simply put: no
wind, no power. The capital costs of the
turbines is high and up to 10% of power
can be lost when transmitting the power
from where it is generated – often the
www.yearofplanetearth.org PLANET EARTH 51
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