Fall 2008 Issue - Special Report
A 4 - B 4
We All Go Green
Posted: December, 2008
T.BOONE, PARIS, AND THE LONG HAUL JOURNEY OF KIMOSABE BUBLITZ
In 1970, the New York Times' best seller list was topped by a book titled The Greening of America
Written by a sociologist, the book argued that the young Americans who were then smoking pot, wearing bell bottoms and listening to psychedelic rock music were transporting the nation to a cozier corner of the cosmos – one that would be largely devoid of jealousy, greed, violence and non-cosmic people of the type who might snatch your hash pipe.
Thirty-eight years later, the greening finally occurred, but not in the way the sociologist imagined. Forget the Summer of Love. In 2008, our consciousness was raised by the Summer of A4 – as in, After 4 dollar-a-gallon gasoline, many things are different than they were B4.
B4, we were energy hogs. A4, we are slimmer hogs. Americans are driving less and oil consumption is down for the first time in three decades. Hummers are left unsold. Priuses can’t be kept in stock. TV sets are turned off when not in use. Light bulbs are even turned off more often when people leave the room.
B4, our national energy debate was Either-Or. You were either for more renewable energy or more oil, and the conflict was often not just about energy – the disagreement was part of a cultural dispute older than the Tet Offensive.
A4, opinion surveys show public opinion has left Either-Or for the more expansive land of All-of-the-Above. Americans are in favor of more renewables AND more drilling.
B4, the debate was inherently negative. There isn’t enough power capacity in renewable resources, oil is running out, people who disagree are either inanely naive or stupendously immoral – evil even.
A4, our new energy possibilities suddenly seem abundant. U.S. natural gas production is up dramatically thanks to new drilling technologies that may also fuel dramatic growth in the production of clean geothermal power – literally, the heat of the earth.
A4, we even seem to find occasional patches of common ground emerging from the smoke that shrouds old battlegrounds. When T. Boone Pickens, Al Gore and Paris Hilton can agree on some of the planks that need to be in our national energy strategy, you know the Times Have Already A-Changed – maybe, by a lot.
A billionaire former oil wildcatter, Pickens put $58 million of his own money into an effort to force energy to the front of the presidential campaign. Pickens argues we should invest more of our own money into developing domestic renewable energy resources so we will spend less of our money buying oil from foreign suppliers who wish to do us harm. Pickens also called for more domestic drilling.
Environmentalists would not go that far, but many, including Al Gore, said Pickens was putting forward ideas that deserved further review.
Hilton was drawn to the fray by a John McCain TV ad that compared Obama’s celebrity to that of Hilton and her sometime running mate, Britney Spears. For once, Hilton didn’t take it lying down.
She responded with a wildly successful Internet video in which she lounged by a swimming pool in a remarkable leopard skinprint bikini while announcing her own candidacy for President of the United States.
She also unveiled her own energy plan, calling for more renewables and environmentally sensitive drilling to create an integrated approach to a brighter energy future when we might all start driving electric Lamborghinis.
The video was astonishing, and not just because of the bikini. The more remarkable thing was that Hilton sounded so much smarter about energy than most of our elected leaders. Does this mean she is smarter? Not in most cases. It’s just that while she counts on her inheritance, our elected leaders count on truebeliever, deep-pocketed campaign contributors and when it comes to energy and the environment, these folks may never be able to leave the world of Either-Or behind.
B4, the Green Economy seemed like a campaign gimmick tie-died to the Sixties.
A4, the Green Economy seems to be bursting out all over, and if you don’t believe it, consider the case of Kimosabe Bublitz.
B4, Bublitz cut his teeth in the trucking industry hauling logs with his dad in and around Shelton, Washington. A4, Bublitz is based in Abilene, Texas, epicenter for the multibillion dollar windmill construction boom that is blowing up and down the American Midwest.
Bublitz was sucked into the field two years ago after he helped a friend drive a truckload of windmill equipment on a 1,000 mile run from a metal fabricating shop in Fontana, California to a windmill farm outside Abilene.
The load consisted of four steel cylinders for use in erecting a windmill tower. Each tower section was 16 feet in diameter. The sections varied in length between 30 and 60 feet and they weighed 120,000 to 130,000 pounds. Bublitz used vacation time to make the trip with his buddy, and he came home fascinated by the amazing logistics and business challenges of transporting some of the biggest, most sensitive equipment that’s ever been hauled across the open road.
In November 2007, Bublitz opened Blitz Transportation Services, equipped with a single 1992 Freightliner tractor and a special Trail King trailer that can extend like a trombone to haul windmill blades that are 200 feet long.
Less than a year later, in addition to the original rig, Blitz operates two brand-new Kenworth-Trail King rigs and the company has two more on order. Blitz drivers now haul windmill parts from the West Coast, East Coast and the Gulf of Mexico to wind farms all across the Midwest.
B4, wind accounted for less than one percent of all U.S. electrical production.
A4, it accounts for about two percent and the doubling was due largely to the boom in Texas. The U.S. now produces more wind-generated electricity than any other country. The government predicts wind may account for 20 percent of U.S. electricity by 2030 and the rapid expansion rate is rattling a growing supply chain that extends from turbine makers to metal fabricators to truck drivers.
Why Texas? The commitment came from elected officials, utility managers and industry leaders who, instead of battling environmentalists, opted to pursue wind power as a clean alternative to building new coal plants to meet growing electricity demands. The wind industry also helps boost the economies of rural communities.
B4, energy development was almost always about resources that were in the ground or in the sky.
A4, it turns out the most important energy resource is that lump of gray matter between our ears.
It’s difficult to talk with Kimosabe without asking about his name. “My dad suggested naming me Doug,” he said. “My mom was the one that did it.” Friends call him Kim or Kimo.
The name was spelled Kemosabe in the scripts for the old Lone Ranger radio and television shows, which claimed the term came from a Native American dialect and meant “faithful friend.” The producer of the radio show later said he took it from a summer camp for kids in Michigan called Camp Kem-Oh-Sabe.
Therefore, it sounds like we are free to decide whatever it is that we want Kimosabe to mean. In Kim’s case, we pick “Smart Trucker.”
But, is Kimosabe Bublitz green? Or is he – you know – Green? A4, even asking the question seems so … B4.
“I see it both ways,” he said. “It’s thrilling to see the capabilities and the cleanliness of these machines creating so much energy without any wastes, but the business side is terrific, too. They say they are going to put up 2,000 more windmills in Sweetwater before the end of the year. The opportunities just keep knocking.”
