The 2008 Alternative Fuels & Vehicles Conference and Expo was held in Las Vegas last week, where the who's who in the auto industry gathered to learn about and discuss alternative fuels and advanced transportation technologies.

T. Boone Pickens, the oil billionaire with an opinion, sounded off during a keynote presentation and The Auto Channel was there to film his speech. Some of the highlights of his discussion besides saying "We're in a hell of a bad spot" include:

- Pickens talked about foreign oil and America's need to move away from it. He believes the real future is in natural gas, which creates less fuel emissions and is much more cost-effective than gasoline.

- He isn't overly optimistic about the future of ethanol, using the words "sad deal" and "ugly baby" to describe it. He also said that "biofuels will never amount to but five per cent of the requirement of this country."

- We've seen the last of the days of diesel being a cheaper alternative than gasoline, however gas prices will still increase, according to Pickens.

- Hillary Clinton is full of it. Okay, maybe those weren't his exact words, but Pickens lambastes her claim that she can bring the cost of oil down to $60 per barrel. Hillary wasn't the only on the receiving end of Pickens' criticism; he didn't have overly kind things to say about John McCain or Barack Obama either.

- Pickens' company recently acquired General Electric wind generators to the tune of $2 billion, so he took the opportunity to discuss the use of wind and solar power.

Watch the video below to see Pickens' entire keynote address and then tell us what you think; is he right on the money or completely off his rocker?

» The Auto Channel