Can wind replace oil, such as the ANWR field in Alaska?

Oil vs. Wind
John McCaslin, a reporter for The Washington Times, asked the Interior Department to assess the practicality of these sources of power instead of oil.  He interviewed Interior spokesman Mark Pfeifle, who said:

"Let's examine wind alone, and compare it to the energy potential of 2,000 acres along the coastal plain of ANWR.  We must consider these factors:

• One barrel of crude oil (42 gallons) generates approximately 520 kilowatts of electricity.
• On average, one operating windmill generates approximately 178 kilowatts of electricity per day.  So, it would take about three windmills to equal the electricity from one barrel of oil.
• Windmills take up about 3 acres of land each.
• It's calculated that ANWR would produce 1 million barrels of oil a day for about 30 years.

"According to our figures, it would take 3 million windmills -- covering 9 million acres of land -- to equal the energy tapped from a tiny strip of land in ANWR."

The bottom line, as estimated by Mr. McCaslin, is that every acre of Mr. Lieberman's Connecticut (3.1 million acres) and Mr. Kerry's Massachusetts (5 million acres) would have to be wall-to-wall windmills.

The Senators' constituents may balk at that idea.