T. Boone Pickens energy plan: A feasibility analysis

A major problem that the United States is facing in the 21
^st
century is meeting energy needs. With an ever-increasing population, a question arises: can we generate and deliver enough energy in order to meet the ever-increasing demand? Each day more and more people are using automobiles to go from place to place, but there is a single point of failure in automotive design: petroleum based fuels. Travel is dependent on this mostly foreign fuel source, and as more require it, the price goes up while supply diminishes. On July 7, 2008, T. Boone Pickens introduced the ldquoPickens Plan,rdquo an energy proposal to reduce America's dependence on foreign oil by one-third over the next ten years. By harnessing wind power to generate electricity, and using natural gas to power automobiles, he believes that it can revitalize a dying industry and stimulate the economy.The objective of this paper is to describe an analysis of the T. Boone Pickens energy plan. These analysis explores the feasibility of generating 20% of the nation's electricity from wind, and reducing gasoline and diesel consumption by 20% in 10 years through examining its technological requirements, economic viability, and the policy and planning issues of implementing such plan in the United States. The preliminary feasibility evaluation uses a parametric to conduct an economic payback analysis and life cycle assessment of wind turbines. Our study focuses mainly on the Midwestern area of the U.S. This region will have wind farms which will support large wind turbines to generate 20% of our electricity. A Monte Carlo integration of a probability density function was conducted to determine natural gas vehicle manufacturing and turnover time from petroleum based fuel powered automobile to natural gas powered automobiles.