米石油長者が新エネ投資

米石油長者も新エネ投資に動いています。１０兆円というのは凄いですね。

日本は勝てません。。。。有識者の意見付で紹介します。

「米国では、先月アル・ゴア元副大統領が１０年以内に米国の電源を１００％再生可能エネルギーにする構想(原子力を含む)を発表するなど、再生可能エネルギーの飛躍的拡大を求める声が高まっていますが、テキサスの石油億万長者のピッケンズ氏は７月２２日に上院で、『石油はすでにピークに達した。今や米国は、海外への石油依存度(年間75兆円)を減らすため、大々的に再生可能エネルギーを開発する必要があり、議会は投資奨励政策を打ち出すべきだ。議会が確固たる方針を示さないから民間の腰が引け、投資が伸びない』と演説。彼自身はとくに風力発電に力を入れており、地元テキサス州、２００万ｋＷe、最終的には４００万ｋＷの大風力発電所を１０兆円かけて建設するというPickens Energy Planを発表。従来は、共和党支持者で、ブッシュ家を支援してきた同氏は、現在では民主党からも大いに注目されているとか。」

http://www.america.gov/st/env-english/2008/July/20080724185950mlenuhret0.4416162.html

Clean-Energy Fuels Create Buzz on Capitol Hill

Businessmen, advocates put alternative energy plans before Congress

Legendary Texas oilman T. Boone Pickens presented his plan to reduce oil dependence to Congress July 22.

Washington -- T. Boone Pickens, an octogenarian Texas oil billionaire, recently paid to air television ads promoting his plan to reduce U.S. dependency on foreign oil through developing alternative energy sources.

“We don’t need anymore talk. We need a plan. And it’s got to be a top priority of the next president and the next Congress,” Pickens said in the ad. An estimate of U.S. annual foreign oil expenditures -- $ 700 billion a year -- appeared on the screen.

Pickens has a plan, which he presented to the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee July 22. He underscored the gravity of the issue and appealed to legislators to pave the way for long-term investment in renewable energy resources.

“Private enterprise will invest money, and will develop domestic resources and build new transmission infrastructure cheaply and efficiently, if Congress adopts clear, predictable policies,” he told legislators.

Some interested potential investors have held back because of the temporary and often inadequate legislation supporting renewable energy. Earlier in 2008, Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty told America.gov that business is only “waiting for the right signals coming from policymakers and policy leaders so that they can plan their future.” (See “Governors Set Sights on Clean Energy.”)

The Pickens Energy Plan, outlined on his Web site, would harness a combination of resources, primarily wind energy, drawn from the wind wealth in the U.S. central corridor. This huge, windy swath of territory extends from the Southwestern United States to the Canadian border, and its location makes distribution to the East and West coasts of the United States relatively easy if a transmission grid is created to distribute the power generated.

Pickens is developing what he says will be the largest wind energy farm in the world near Sweetwater, Texas. The facility now produces 2,000 megawatts and ultimately will generate 4,000 megawatts of electricity. The cost: $10 billion.

Natural gas is the other key component of Pickens’ plan. America has abundant natural gas reserves, and he wants natural gas to replace petroleum-based vehicle fuels.

“If we take the natural gas we would be using for electrical generation to meet new demand and replacement of existing plants and move it to transportation, we can replace 38 percent of our foreign oil imports,” he said. Pickens owns a natural gas-powered Honda Civic GX.

Pickens estimates North America has an 80-year supply of natural gas, and there is “the ongoing development of biogas,” derived from sustainable sources. The change, he says, would buy the United States time during which new, sustainable technologies can be refined, brought to market and made affordable.

ALTERNATIVE ENERGY DRAWS BIPARTISAN SUPPORT

A longtime conservative Republican and a major contributor to George W. Bush’s presidential campaigns, Pickens appears to be attracting Democrats and Republicans to his plan.

“His proposal is so common sense,” Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said during a conference call he hosted July 23 to discuss the upcoming National Clean Energy Summit in Las Vegas. The conference, sponsored by the Center for American Progress, is nonpartisan. Reid said. Influential Republicans, including Pickens, will be among those in politics and industry bringing ideas to the table.

In his July 19 radio message, President Bush, while asking that more U.S. land be opened for oil exploration and drilling, also said, “In the short term, America's economy will continue to depend on oil, but in the long term our economic future depends on promoting alternative energy technologies.”

The president said his administration has supported this effort. “We're investing in new advanced batteries, plug-in hybrids, and hydrogen fuel cells. We're working to expand the use of clean, safe nuclear power, solar and wind power, and clean coal technology. With these steps, we're enhancing America's energy security.”

In the past week, former U.S. Vice-President and 2007 Nobel Prize winner Al Gore asked America to shift to 100 percent renewable energy use in the next 10 years. “I think it’s achievable,” Gore said on NBC’s Meet the Press. “The people of this country are ready for bolder, more dramatic answers.”

One obstacle to greater use of alternative energy sources is a lack of infrastructure. Constructing the necessary high-capacity transmission grid from the generation source to service areas will cost money. Pickens said this step and the resulting expansion in energy business will generate jobs and revitalize economies in America’s heartland. But Congress must provide the necessary instruments to facilitate development by the public and private sectors.

Pickens, who has been in the oil business all his life, told senators he believes world oil production has peaked.

“We cannot limit ourselves to any single solution, whether it is nuclear power, drilling for more domestic oil and gas or renewable energy. It is clear that renewable energy sources are an essential national security strategy,” he said.