Pickens’ Texas Tea, Blue Gold, Billionaire…

Much has been make of Pickens’ Plan; Very little has been made of Pickens’ Mesa Water, Inc. and its potential piggybacking on Pickens’ Plan… how stealthy of him!

T. Boone Pickens: Oil Tycoon Drilling Water in Texas

Excerpt:

Despite his energy investment funds losing $1 billion during this year’s market collapse and his personal loss of about $270 million, famed oilman T. Boone Pickens still looks to turn his attention from “black gold” to “blue gold.” The billionaire tycoon recently supplemented his property holdings in Roberts County, Texas with 200,000 acres of land atop the Ogallala Aquifer. Under Texas law, this purchase entitles Mesa Water, Pickens’ new company, to take more than 320,000 acre-feet of water, equivalent to more than 104 million gallons, from the property. Pickens plans to pump the water from his land in the state’s north- eastern panhandle and pipe it to Lubbock, El Paso, San Antonio or the Dallas-Fort Worth area.

(foodandwaterwatch.org)

I read recently that Mesa Water has suspended plans to build the pipeline from being unsuccessful in locating a water buyer, but that talks are underway with prospective buyers.

kinetic wind sculpture break

Starr Gideon Kempf was a truly multi- talented individual with an incredible work ethic and creative drive. A modern renaissance man, he practiced many forms of Art at an expert level including drawing, painting, etching, sculpting, the architecture of his self built home, but he is best known for his graceful, steel, kinetic wind sculptures.

Starr Kempf was raised on a small farm in Ohio, near a Swiss Mennonite community. His family, including his father and seven uncles, were blacksmiths and carpenters, from whom he learned craftsmanship and engineering at an early age.

He attended the Cleveland Institute of Art on a scholarship, where he received high marks for his paintings and drawings. After graduating, he served in the United States Air Force during World War II. He married recent German immigrant Hedwig Roelen in 1942, who was a nurse at Glockner Penrose Hospital in Colorado Springs. In 1948, they purchased the property of their future home in Cheyenne Canyon, where Starr designed and built a house and art studio. They had three children: Madelin, Michael, and Charlotte.

Starr began to work in bronze sculpture in 1955, which he sold to collectors around the United States. As of 1977, his vision had blossomed into the creation of elaborate steel wind sculptures, each of which took him up to three years to construct. His kinetic wind sculptures were designed to exhibit graceful movement and interaction with the wind, and took the form of birds and wind vanes, often soaring to more than fifty feet in height.

Starr Kempf died in 1995.

from http://www.starrgideonkempf.com/index.php

Frontline: HEAT

Watched PBS-Frontline program called HEAT which is a 2 hour documentary dealing with the troubling facts of difficulty in implementing any meaningful CO2 lowering measures.. with the knowledge that climate change is physically evident to all beings, and now that the damage appears to be increasing faster than predicted.

FRONTLINE: heat | PBS

Can I Buy Green Power in my state?

Click on map through to your state to find out which organizations offer green power in your state. The results will include utility green pricing programs, retail green power products offered in competitive electricity markets, and renewable energy certificate (REC) products sold separate from electricity. For additional information about these distinct products, see the EERE Overview of Green Power Markets.

AK AL AR AZ CA CO CT DC DE FL GA HI IA ID IL IN KS KY LA MA MD ME MI MN MO MS MT NC ND NE NH NJ NM NV NY OH OK OR PA RI SC SD TN TX UT VA VT WA WI WV WY

from The U.S. DOE – Energy Effieciency and Renewable Energy

. . .

AND… don’t forget to check the DSIRE resource:

Federal Incentives

Google Goal: RE<C (Renewable Energy Cheaper Than Coal)

The Mountain View company announced Tuesday that it will open its deep pockets to foster innovation in solar, wind and geothermal technology in the hopes of making green energy cheaper than power produced by burning coal. The plan is to generate one gigawatt of renewable energy -and do it soon- enough to power a city the size of San Francisco.

In general, Google said it will make investments and give grants to projects that show promise in developing energy at a cost below coal-fired power plants. Companies, universities and research and development labs will be eligible.

Last year the company said it would become carbon-neutral by the end of this year, meaning that it will be responsible for zero carbon emissions. Already, Google has built a solar panel installation at its headquarters that generates 1.6 megawatts, making it among the biggest corporate arrays in the country. In addition, the company has put out a request for proposals to fund up to $10 million in research and development of electric and hybrid cars.

from SFGate.com

—
Current Solar Electricity Generated at the Googleplex

Last 7 days: 7,394 kilowatt-hours
Last 24 Hours: 1,067 kilowatt-hours
Since Jun 18, 2007: 606,229 kilowatt-hours

Lazy Lawmakers Daydreaming of Turkey

I cannot believe, well, yes I can… that in order to get the most recent U.S. Energy Bill (fast-tracked, as it were) through Congress before Thanksgiving break on Friday November 16, House Majority Leader Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid decided to remove a renewable portfolio standard (RPS) and all tax provisions benefiting renewable energy. The renewable portfolio standard, was to have set a target of getting 20-25% of the nation’s electricity from renewable resources by 2025, will no longer be in the bill.

Is there not a looming threat of terrorism based on theoretical dwindling energy reserves? Does not our climate seem to be changing at an almost exponential rate compared to the the consistency of historical norms? As apparently such, are not a vast majority of animal species disappearing at an unprecedented rate? Are we not already paying too much for energy, and not just monetarily? Cannot we continue to pillage this previously tolerant planet indefinitely?

We need leaders that will pass bills with our future best interests in mind. NOT leaders(?) that drop much needed provisions because they are thinking about how much they are going to enjoy their turkey break. For our future:

• Clean energy means jobs and energy independence.
• America needs carbon-free renewable energy, now.
• The fight against climate change will only be won by a transition to renewable energy.
• The energy bill must extend investment tax credits for solar and wind energy.
• Our future depends on some strong leadership.

Isn’t that what leaders are supposed to do?

What also sucks, is that this just came down on Thursday (11/08) and we only have to Tuesday to give’em a piece of our collective minds… Do it now, through SEIA.. if you please.