The TV Ad That NBC Refused to Run for the Enigmatic T. Boone Pickens

My BS is in natural resources.  Ohio State U taught us that hydrocarbon-based energy is the dirtiest source of all energies available - either in the extraction, production or use of such energies.  So I did a little research:

International Assn for Natural Gas Vehicles posts this: Alternative Fuels, Natural Gas Vehicles, CNG, LNG... 

Few alternative fuels offer the distinct and unquestionable advantages of natural gas. Natural gas is widely available, renewable (through the production of biogas or biomethane), offers greenhouse gas reductions and produces fewer emissions compared to other traditional and alternative fuels. Natural gas can be used either as compressed natural gas (CNG), liquefied natural gas (LNG) or even blended with hydrogen. The use of natural gas vehicles (NGVs) also facilitates energy security and energy diversity.

With more than 5 7 million natural gas vehicles (NGVs) worldwide, the International Association for Natural Gas Vehicles (IANGV) is proud to have been at the forefront of industry growth, making natural gas one of the most popular and versatile alternative fuels available.

Natural gas or methane is one of the mose versatile alternative fuels available and can be used in spark ignited or compression engines from the smallest of motorbikes to the largest rail locomotives and almost everything in between. With the growing use of biogas or biomethane, natural gas is also becoming one of the most dominant biofuels available worldwide.

Public compressed natural gas (CNG) refuelling stations are increasing in number worldwide everyday and equipment is even available now to allow home fuelling , an innovation that is changing the way we live our lives today. Equally, liquefied natural gas (LNG) fueling stations are also increasing in number daily, proving especially popular amongst heavy vehicle fleet operators.

I never heard of IANGV, so I checked out Grist.  At Pampas and Circumstances, in 2003, Grist reports:

The massive economic crisis in Argentina has had an unexpected silver lining for the environment: It has led to a surge in the use of compressed natural gas (CNG) in cars, a cleaner fuel than either diesel or gasoline.  Argentina is home to the third-largest natural-gas reserves in Latin America and the world's largest fleet of natural-gas cars, at about 800,000, or 15 percent of personal vehicles.  After the peso was devalued in January 2002, gasoline and diesel prices jumped by more than 30 percent, making CNG the most economical fuel available.

"There's a revolution going on in the energy sector that developed countries aren't taking notice of.  Developed countries are betting on the fuel cell idea, but that's for some 20 years from now," said Gregorio Kopyto of Argentina's Chamber of Compressed Natural Gas.

So maybe, CNG is good.  I'd like to learn more about it.

by Rady Ananda (182 articles, 374 quicklinks, 49 diaries, 1718 comments [201 recommended, 2 rejected]) on Saturday, Aug 30, 2008 at 8:34:51 AM

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Great research, Rady, I'm glad you were inspired to post it! Thanks!

by Meryl Ann Butler (89 articles, 107 quicklinks, 5 diaries, 811 comments [45 recommended, 0 rejected]) on Saturday, Aug 30, 2008 at 1:18:00 PM

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Rady, because you have background, and anyone else who is interested. I'm on to the "uprising" issue with the likes of David Sirota, and more particularly to how the Mountain West is impacted.  

Sirota writes about the West because he lives in Denver and had a role in Montana Governor Schweitzer's successful run as a Democrat.  The gov's was a stirring speech at the convention.  (Started out as "I'm just a rancher").  This is just a little national flavor to what we who come from Wyoming and surrounding states have always been aware of.  There's a lot of energy.  Land is not settled widely because it is often semi-arid.  But the mineral rights are stupendous.  Oil production picked up after deep drilling techniques became prevalent in the mid-70s. 

That's background to my questions about oil, gas and methane, plus now shale oil.  Google "Bakken" to get an idea of the extensive activity from Williston ND to Canadian border and west to Eastern Montana (around Missoula), which Schweitzer touched on in his speech.  This field is producing shale oil now, and a 100-mile pipeline is being built to connect to the Powder River pipeline.  To harvest oil which resides in shale sometimes requires "fracturing" although now technology has found a way to find beds of high grade petroleum between layers of shale.  Shale, itself, is a  very greasy rock and is everywhere in my part of the country.  Long before we had paved highways, we had graded roads with a layer of  crushed shale.  

In the area of Gillette WY, where I went to school, is the deepest vein of coal.  That's the Powder River Basin.  Mining of coal was extensive for as long as I can remember.  Over the years, oil companies drilled for successful production.  After all, this is not far from the Teapot Dome (Midwest WY) of political significance.  But since about 15 years ago, the major emphasis has been on methane gas.  The homestead where I grew up has both oil wells and methane gas.  Methane gas is harvested by capturing it between seams of coal in the Powder River Basin.  

I started to ask a question dealing mostly about gas or methane gas.  How are these various energy sources used?  Or how should they be used?  I'm a city person by adoption.  Personal automobiles seem the least of petroleum's customers.  Public transportation is by far more important.  And an advanced kind of public transportation should include helicopter service.  I'll bet Montana's Governor doesn't rely on a car to get him from Helena to Denver or Cheyenne to talk to his governor buddies.  

If we cut the paper out of a newspaper, might we be looking at the day when workers (pencil pushers) will sit at home and click the day away?  I believe creating cheapest electricity with the least ecological damage is one of the major issues.  And I know for sure that if the country is to create an infrastructure which will sustain modern use, petroleum will be needed for diesel power in equipment to drill, grade, haul and erect the structures. 

In short, energy will concentrate on cheap electricity and available petroleum for heavy equipment use.  Nowhere do I see "America's love affair with the automobile" as having priority--combustion engines or otherwise.  And nowhere do I see it necessary to take a bath or wash the dishes with petroleum, let alone carry my groceries home in it. 

Hope this rattles a few cages!

by Margaret Bassett (51 articles, 3819 quicklinks, 66 diaries, 2539 comments [200 recommended, 0 rejected]) on Saturday, Aug 30, 2008 at 11:18:40 AM

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sent the following message out to its members:

 On Wednesday, oil billionaire T.Boone Pickens, Center for American Progress head John Podesta, and I sat down with bloggers at the Democratic National Convention to discuss our energy future. Pickens, who believes the Bush Administration is wildly exaggerating how much oil there is to be found off-shore and in Alaska, discussed his "Pickens Plan" -- a two-pronged plan he details in a massive million dollar advertising buy running nationally now.

In the ad, Pickens says the current debate over drilling "misses the point." I concur. The current political emphasis on whether or not to open up more of the coastline to drilling is a distraction, a Karl Rove-style "head fake."

And while the Sierra Club doesn't agree with Pickens on everything -- we do agree with the elements of his plan, which includes a huge increase in the investment and production of wind power, and giving consumers the choice to replace foreign oil with American natural gas for cars and trucks, in the period while we wait for all-electric or plug-in hybrid vehicles.

According to Pickens, " It's cleaner. It's cheaper. It's abundant and it's ours...and it buys us the one thing money can't buy -- time to develop the renewable fuels that will break our dependence on foreign oil."

When an oilman and environmentalists agree -- you know the momentum for real change is building.

Help us add to that momentum.

Will you send a letter to the editor of your local newspaper identifying yourself as a Sierra Club member or supporter and amplifying the message of clean energy? Click here to tell us that you are submitting a letter, and for some example letters.

Sincerely,

Carl Pope

Executive Director 

by Meryl Ann Butler (89 articles, 107 quicklinks, 5 diaries, 811 comments [45 recommended, 0 rejected]) on Sunday, Aug 31, 2008 at 3:27:20 AM

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Hmmmm....

Once someone has made billions in the oil industry, what can he do to top it?

Make trillions in government subsidies?

by UncleSim (1 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 577 comments [90 recommended, 6 rejected]) on Sunday, Aug 31, 2008 at 5:42:26 PM

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