DAVIE, Fla. -- The first-ever natural gas station is coming to South Florida as a famous face in the debate about alternative energy visits the area.

T. Boone Pickens addressed a crowd of more than 400 people at Nova Southeastern University on Tuesday morning.

"Of the $350 billion we paid for foreign oil last year, if we were to get half of that back, how many jobs we would have in America," Pickens said. "This is about us. It's not about Democrats or Republicans. It's us."

Pickens hopes federal lawmakers can move past the recent fractured vote on the economy and come together on a cohesive energy plan.

Pickens is a great supporter of windmills.

"You could put one right there on the Capitol. You could put it down low. You wouldn't have to put it up high, and you could also have a hot air balloon there, too," Pickens joked.

Local 10's Julie Summers asked Pickens about the viability of one of South Florida's renewable energy sources: the Gulfstream current.

"There's no question. You can count on it. It's there every day. It's constant," Pickens said. "But none of that's been unleashed because we've had cheap oil."

Pickens believes the future of transportation belongs to electric or hydrogen-powered vehicles. But because that technology needs more time, he is a proponent of domestic natural gas in the meantime.

Pickens told the crowd at Nova that he drives a Honda Civic that is completely fueled by compressed natural gas. Under the hood, the Civic appears to have a regular engine, but it runs on clean-burning fuel that saves drivers money, too.

"Right now, if you're filling up at your house in the garage, you're saving about $1.20 a gallon. If you fill up at a public station, you're saving about 70 cents a gallon," said Jeff Greene of Wise Gas Inc.

Overall, Greene said, the savings add up to 30 to 50 percent each time a driver fills up.

In two to three months, it will be easier for South Floridians to use natural gas when the first public natural gas station opens in Fort Lauderdale. The station will be located at 557 SW 12th Ave., in front of Bayside Market. Other locations in Miami-Dade County also are on the way.

"What's the one thing every American could do, a baby step, this week to help us move forward?" Summers asked Pickens.

"Oh, that's the toughest question I've had this year. What could they do? A baby step? Well, not drive as much, for one thing," Pickens said.

The second step, he said, is to be positive, so Americans can move forward with solutions.

"We can fix it, and it can be done rather quickly," Pickens said.

He said the hardest part of making a difference is making a change. He joked that no matter what might be proposed, about 10 percent of Americans will oppose it because many do not like change.

To learn more about Pickens' Plan, click here.