Want Some Wood?

With oil reaching a hundred dollars a barrel and likely to sty there, many are reaching for an alternative way to heat their homes. The problem is that they're looking backwards instead of forwards. I appreciate that there are plenty of wood-burning stoves and fireplaces out there, and I even appreciate a warm fire myself every now and again. But the production costs of logging on a mass scale outstrip the "savings" in energy derived from heating wood. These aren't efficient devices, and they typically cause pollutants. Wind power is far more efficient, and far more plentiful, actually, particularly in those Plains states that would feel an immediate economic shock if we were to jettison oil tomorrow.

Texas, once the oil capital of North America, is rapidly turning into the capital of wind power. After breakneck growth the last three years, Texas has reached the point that more than 3 percent of its electricity, enough to supply power to one million homes, comes from wind turbines.

Texans are even turning tapped-out oil fields into wind farms, and no less an oilman than Boone Pickens is getting into alternative energy.

“I have the same feelings about wind,” Mr. Pickens said in an interview, “as I had about the best oil field I ever found.” He is planning to build the biggest wind farm in the world, a $10 billion behemoth that could power a small city by itself.

I'm not T.Boone Pickens' biggest fan, but if he's excited about wind, perhaps there's some common ground between environmentalists and oilmen to work toward a common purpose, expanding industry while transforming our economy and our energy future. That is a realizable goal.