Smelling Change in the Wind, T. Boone Pickens's Latest Ad is One Hot Spot

• It makes more sense to use natural gas to generate electricity than for vehicles. Gas turbine generators can stop and start very quickly and so nicely complement wind power as the wind comes and goes. In Texas, replacing coal with natural gas would both clear the air and increase state government revenues. Pickens must think he's more likely to succeed with the jingoist angle than if he went up against the coal industry.

• Sad to see T. Boon Pickens weakening his enthusiasm for wind. With Mesa Power halving their $2 billion wind-turbine order, let�s hope GE finds new buyers and that the Pampa Wind Farm finds new investors. If you are interested in wind energy, check out http://www.greencollareconomy.com. It has hundreds of case studies on emerging green technology and wind farms. It�s also the largest b2b green directory on the web.

• Pickens went from Snake Oil Salesman, to Wind Bag and now he is Full of Gas. His primary focus is, and always has been, his pocket.

• Roberto -- Pickens was also hoping that the congress would shove a few billion bucks at him to help with his windmill scheme. I am kinds of surprised they did not after GM, AIG, and Goldman Sachs. Got to give it to old T. Boone, he keeps his hand out for our money as well as anybody. Sadly there are so many with their hands out that are already richer the Croesus.

• Sorry to disappoint, Scott. But, yes, he's cut his wind-farm plans in half. From <i>The Wall Street Journal</i>: Cheap natural gas, the lack of electricity-transmission lines and the lingering credit crunch have combined to take the shine off large-scale renewable-energy projects, and those factors led Mr. Pickens to halve his $2 billion wind-turbine order with General Electric Co., said a spokesman for Mr. Pickens's Mesa Power LP. Here's that story: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704675104575001290675508802.html?mod=WSJ_WSJ_US_News_5

• Sadly, this is par for the course for so much media. You cover an ad campaign, a big part of their plan is to spin an ad campaign as news to get the media to provide free press coverage. This is telling as yesterday T-Boone announced that he's cut his wind farm project by 50%. That's more news worthy than this story. (I now worry that you covered this yesterday--I will now check) Regardless, this is far too common in the Media generally. I come here with higher and lower expectations.

• I get so annoyed by the "... countries that don't like us..." cliche. It sounds so uneducated. In fact, it sounds down right ignorant. Anecdotally, it seems like it is typically used by conservatives, but I have heard Democrats use it too. I hope it dies soon.

• The big problem with using natural gas for trucks and busses is the limited range. I've seen to many big delivery drivers who can barely make their routes without refilling because of the natural gas takes up so much volume that they can't put enough tanks on the delivery vehicles.

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