phault's flickr photostream/Creative Commons

Interior Department Secretary Ken Salazar said something pretty interesting yesterday. I’ll let him tell you what it was. It’s under the picture of the windmill. And that picture’ll make sense once you read the quote.

The idea that wind energy has the potential to replace most of our coal-burning power today is a very real possibility. It is not technology that is pie-in-the sky; it is here and now. [Associated Press via MSNBC]

Yes, Salazar is saying that wind, specifically ocean wind, could replace most coal plants in the United States. And guess who thinks this prediction is “overly optimistic”? Yup. The coal people. But it looks like Salazar and Co. have done some number-crunching to see if this is feasible, and obviously think it might be.

Salazar said ocean winds along the East Coast can generate 1 million megawatts of power, roughly the equivalent of 3,000 medium-sized coal-fired power plants, or nearly five times the number of coal plants now operating in the United States, according to the Energy Department.

An average turbine off Cape Cod generate 2 to 5 megawatts, so we are talking about a whole bunch of turbines here to make this happen.

A spokesman for the American Coal Council, however, who only cares about the good of the people, worries “wind power plants face roadblocks including local opposition, concerns about their impact on wildlife, and problems in efficiently transmitting power from far offshore.”

It really is a stretch. How you put that many new (wind) plants up, especially in deep water, is confusing. Even if you could do what he said, you still need to deal with the fact that the best wind plants generate power about 30 percent of the time. There’s got to be something to back that up.

Well, if the coal people say it’s not possible, obviously, we shouldn’t try. Case closed. But, just in case, takepart to learn about wind power. There’s even a section on the site about small wind, to help power your own home with wind. Though Big Coal is pretty sure you can’t.