Dear Mr. Pickens,
This message begins a series of 6 messages for each of the remaining energy sources that you enumerated on the You Tube video explaining "The Pickens Plan;" I previously discussed the Nuclear option.
From the founding of our Republic the principle source of energy was wood; to say nothing of horses and mules. In the 19th century people began to become fearful that if things continued as they were there would not be a tree left standing on the North American continent. Fortunately, our trees were saved by King Coal.
Later petroleum took over from King Coal. But, as you have noted about one-half of the electricity in the U.S. is still produced by coal-fired plants. Additional coal is used for various heating tasks including making Coke which is used in the manufacture of steel. So, it is good that we have lots of coal--estimated 1,500 years worth.
The problem with coal is that it is not pure carbon, but is one of the most impure of fuels. Coal ash is composed primarily of oxides of silicon, aluminum, iron, calcium, magnesium, titanium, sodium, potassium, arsenic, mercury, and sulfur plus small quantities of uranium, thorium, radium, polonium, bismuth, and lead. The gaseous emissions contains radon along with oxides of carbon, nitrogen, and sulfur. If the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) regulated all power plants the coal-fired power plants would all be shut down due to the emission of radioactive materials. This paragraph is based mostly on this website.
During World War II, Germany had lots of coal, but no petroleum. How did Germany manage to power all their military vehicles, ships, and airplanes without petroleum? They used a process they developed called the Fischer-Tropsch process. This or a similar process is used in South Africa to produce liquid hydrocarbons.
A small US-based company, Rentech, is currently focusing on converting nitrogen-fertilizer plants from using a natural gas feedstock to using coal or coke, and producing liquid hydrocarbons as a by-product.
The Syntroleum process produces synthetic fuel by the Fisher-Tropsch process (referred to as FT fuel), which can use natural gas, coal, or biomass as feedstocks.
So it appears possible to produce all the liquid fuels we need from coal. I remember during WWII my dad kept a can of Coal Oil for use around our house, so it would seem that even then we were making liquid fuel from coal. Today, Coal Oil is called kerosene or #1 Diesel and is the main component of jet aircraft fuel, but it is made from petroleum rather than coal. The advantage liquid fuels from coal is that no modifications of our vehicles or the infrastructure at the retail end of the supply chain would be required.
So where do we get the extra coal? There are two possibilities: 1) mine more coal and 2) use the process described here to reduce the coal consumption of the 150+ coal-fired power plants by 50%.
This would be an interim solution to part of the energy crisis. The energy crisis cannot be completely solved as long as energy production depends upon the consumption of material (mass).
I have more to say, but this is probably already too long.
Larry Brown
Your Eyes and Ears in SW Oregon
Now using a Mac Mini (Apple)
P.S. I saw your plan in two different You Tube videos. As a Caltech grad (MS in EE, 1954), I was impressed. IMHO, we, as a nation, should consider all of the energy sources that you enumerated along with any new, "out of the box" technologies, but the "playing field" should be leveled. All government interference in the energy markets should be stopped. This will allow all technologies to compete--the market will select those technologies that are most cost-effective. It was government regulations, subsidies, and taxes that brought us the "energy crisis."
P.P.S. I've put my five previous and this current "Messages for T. Boone Pickens" on my website.