Pickens' Arguement is Economically Unsound

For the last year, oil executive T. Boone Pickens has been pushing his combination wind, solar, and natural gas solution to our energy costs. He claims the $700 billion we spend a year on foreign oil will be the "greatest transfer of wealth in the history of mankind". However, this is not a wealth transfer, just a trade. Americans buy $700 billion of oil every year, because it is worth more than that to them. Using Pickens' argument, that is the "greatest transfer of wealth in the history of mankind".