Can Wind Power Replace Coal?
When it comes to energy, it's important to understand the difference between the potential and the capacity of a given energy source.
Case in point: U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar was quoted on April 6 as saying that ocean winds along the East Coast could generate as much as 1 million megawatts of power - roughly the equivalent to the output of 3,000 medium-size coal plants.
Press accounts (which I am sure the anti-coal activists will seize upon) say that, according to the secretary, if wind power were fully developed, it could generate enough electricity to replace most, if not all, the coal-based power plants in the U.S.
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But wait (as the late Paul Harvey would say)...there's more. The secretary's spokesman said that his remarks were misrepresented. From the Washington Post:
A spokesman for Salazar said Monday evening that the secretary does not expect wind power to be fully developed, but was speaking of its total potential if it were.