Are we addicted to oil? Boone Pickens, a lifetime oil man, says we are. Pickens is putting his own money into a project to turn us from oil to wind. The cost of oil for America will be $700 billion this year. Pickens has come up with his own plan to help America become self sustaining by using alternate forms of energy like windmill energy. According to Pickens, "The United States is the Saudi Arabia of Wind Power."
 
The Great Plains states are home to the greatest wind energy potential in the world. Department of Energy reports that 20% of America's electricity can come from wind. North Dakota has potential to provide power for more than a quarter of the country. Wind turbines stand up to 410 feet tall, with blades that stretch 148 feet in length. The blades collect the wind's kinetic energy. In one year, a 3-megawatt wind turbine produces as much energy as 12,000 barrels of imported oil.

Wind power currently accounts for 48 billion kWh of electricity a year in North America, enough to serve more than 4.5 million households. That is only about 1% of current demand, but the potential of wind is much greater. A 2005 Stanford University study found there is enough wind power worldwide to satisfy global demand 7 times over. Building wind facilities in the corridor that stretches from the Texas panhandle to North Dakota could produce 20% of the electricity for the United States at a cost of $1 trillion. It would take $200 billion to build the capacity to transmit that energy to cities and towns. but it's a one-time cost. Compared to the $700 billion we spend on foreign oil every year, it's a bargain.