GE Set for a Pickens Windfall

"Actually, if you wanted to go beyond 22%, you could go to 40, 60, 80 -- whatever you want," Pickens insists. "That resource is unlimited."

Thanks to his private fortune, Pickens can finance his own wind farm and even build the expensive transmission lines that must go along with it. Chances are, however, others will need some help.

To start, Pickens suggests, the U.S. should adopt a long-term "production tax credit" that encourages the construction of wind farms. Right now, lawmakers must renew that generous incentive on a regular basis.

Spurred by that enticement, Pickens believes, private companies will feel compelled to act. Together, he estimates, they would spend roughly $500 billion adding 400,000 megawatts of new power capacity along America's rural wind corridor alone. In addition, he predicts, they would invest another $100 million in necessary transmission lines unless the government prefers to handle that itself.

Ultimately, Pickens calculates, the total project would cost about $700 billion -- as much as a year's worth of foreign oil or, alternatively, a single bailout for Wall Street.

Compared to the bailout, the Pickens Plan looks wildly popular. In fact, some experts already want to expand the plan by adding three "offshore" wind corridors to serve the country's crowded coasts. Meanwhile, demand for wind-generated electricity continues to climb in the nation's heartland.

Under a new deal with Oklahoma Gas & Electric (OGE Quote), for example, the University of Oklahoma will start buying wind power to satisfy part -- and eventually all -- of its electricity needs. By doing so, OU claims that it has made "one of the largest renewable-energy commitments ever" by a public university.