Dear Mr. Pickens,
This message is the second a series of 6 messages on the energy sources that you enumerated on the You Tube video explaining "The Pickens Plan."
Natural Gas, mostly Methane (CH4), is widely used in the United States for domestic fuel, feedstock for various industrial processes, fuel to generate electricity (gas turbines and steam plants), and fuel for transportation vehicles.
I remember that in the early 1970's, the Southern California Gas Company pickup trucks used Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) for fuel. They seemed to be able to go anywhere in the City with only one fueling station--I don't know how far they could go between fill-ups. The CNG tanks were quite conspicuous in the back of the pickups (two to four tanks per truck). The U.S. Geographic Survey estimated that there was 600 years of Natural Gas supply in the U.S.; the Natural Gas from the Alaska North Slope was being pumped back into the ground because there was no pipeline (still isn't) to transport the Natural Gas to market and the environmentalists would not let them just burn the gas on-site.
That was then, now there are lots of fueling stations in the Greater Los Angeles area, but fueling stations for CNG are sparse to none very far removed from large cities. See locations of fueling stations in the U.S. There is also now available a home fueling station that requires a natural gas line and electricity to fuel a car (or truck); again, however, natural gas lines are not available in remote locations. Bottom line: for a long time vehicles will have to be dual-fuel (either CNG or liquid hydrocarbons)--or stay near home. See Note. Moreover, now we are importing Liquid Natural Gas (LNG); as I write companies are seeking permission to build three LNG terminals here in Oregon (most of the gas will be sent to California).
Another way to use Natural Gas would be to use the Syntroleum process to produce synthetic fuel by the Fisher-Tropsch process (referred to as FT fuel). The synthetic fuel (liquid hydrocarbon) could be distributed through the current gasoline/diesel infrastructure and used in current vehicles.
Whether we convert vehicles to use Natural Gas and build a whole new infrastructure for CNG distribution or build plants to convert Natural Gas into liquid hydrocarbons and avoid the conversion cost is really an economic question. The politicians seem to have made the decision to convert the vehicles to CNG and build the infrastructure; they have started providing subsidies to push the development their way. May I say that politicians have a track record of getting things exactly wrong?
Natural Gas for transportation vehicles (regardless of how it is used) is 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. My next message will be on hydroelectric power.
Footnote: What happens if you have a CNG only vehicle and run out of gas out in the boonies some where? I guess the mobile emergency fueling vehicles will have to be able to supply CNG.
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."