1 cubic mile of oil

to create the energy we get from oil by least expensive means - wind - we would need to spend an extra $10 trillion and would require an area the size of three new zealands

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cubic_mile_of_oil

The world consumes approximately 3 CMO annually from all sources.

Source	CMO/yr
Oil	1.06
Coal	0.81
Natural gas	0.61
Biomass	0.19
Nuclear	0.15
Hydroelectric	0.17
Geothermal	<0.01
Wind+Photovoltaic+Solar thermal	<0.005

Installing capacity to produce 1 CMO per year requires long and significant development.

Allowing fifty years to develop the requisite capacity, 1 CMO of energy per year could be produced by any one of these developments:

• 4 Three Gorges Dams,^[14] developed each year for 50 years, or
• 52 nuclear power plants,^[15] developed each year for 50 years, or
• 104 coal-fired power plants,^[16] developed each year for 50 years, or
• 32,850 wind turbines,^[17][18] developed each year for 50 years, or
• 91,250,000 rooftop solar photovoltaic panels^[19] developed each year for 50 years

Also, whereas 1 kWh is equivalent to 3412 BTU of primary energy, in practice it takes closer to 10,000 BTU to produce 1 kWh of electricity from coal and other fossil sources. Thus, when considering sources such as wind and solar which directly produce electricity, the required installed capacity was calculated by using 1 kWh as equivalent to 10,000 BTU.

The environmental, social, and financial costs of such development projects are immense:

• The Three Gorges Dam is the world's largest, flooding 632 km², displacing 1.25 million people, and costing roughly US$30 billion.
• A nuclear power plant produces hazardous radioactive waste, raises fears of radiation or nuclear proliferation, requires 10 years to construct for a 40 year lifetime, occupies about 4 km², and may cost upwards of US$5 billion.
• A 500 MW coal-fired power plant may contribute to acid rain, global warming, and air pollution, occupies about 2 km², may obtain its fuel via controversial methods such as mountaintop removal, and costs about US$650 million.
• A large wind turbine requires a location with an abundance of steady wind, may be visually obtrusive, can interfere with aviation, needs about 0.16 km² to avoid interfering with adjacent turbines, and costs about US$2 million.^[20]
• A 2.1 kW rooftop solar array requires technical skills for installation, needs a sunny location, presents few aesthetic or environmental problems, covers about 14 m², but costs around US$15,000.

Alternative Replacements for one CMO

Source	Number	Cost (US$1 trillion)	Area
			(km2)	(sq mi)
Dams	200	6	1,264,400	488,200
Nuclear plants	2,600	13	10,400	4,000
Coal plants	5,200	3.4	10,400	4,000
Wind turbines	1,642,000	3.3	273,667	105,663
Rooftop photovoltaics	4,562,500,000	68	63,875	24,662

For comparison, US$3.2 trillion is the approximate gross domestic product of Germany, China, or the United Kingdom. The total land area of New Zealand is approximately 270,000 square kilometres (100,000 sq mi).^[21]

At a 2008 market price of US$120 per barrel (US$750/m³), the cost of one CMO was about US$3 trillion.