Vacation is almost over and the weather allowed only one night of van camping. I have tried to make lemonade from the sour little lemons thrown at me (weather, no popup). I worked on fun projects and cleaned the house. I also watched two great movies: Saving Mr. Banks and Frozen. The next few days are sunnier and a bit warmer so I can get outside for yard work. Friday I have a book signing in Cheyenne. Puttering around is a nice vacation too, just not what I expected.
Sunday! The temps will be in the 80s and winds only 15 MPH. I know weather is boring but when you love to be outdoors and you live in Wyoming, it is THE topic. Especially the wind. I will head out Sunday afternoon to my new secret “beach” at one of the reservoirs. I camp just yards from the shoreline. New camping activities: cooking with a pie iron and dutch oven.
I read some very hopeful news today: two clean coal plants open soon. According to Nature Magazine;
A plant in “Saskatchewan, Canada, switches on later this year after a lengthy refit, it will mark a historic moment for dirty coal power. It will be the first time that a commercial-scale plant supplying electricity to the grid captures and stores a large fraction of its carbon dioxide emissions.“We’re getting interest from all around the world,” says Robert Watson, chief executive of provincial-government-owned plant operator SaskPower Corporation in Regina. The firm plans to sell about 1 million tonnes of CO2 a year — up to 90% of Unit 3’s emissions — to oil company Cenovus Energy of Calgary, Canada, which will pipe the compressed gas deep underground to flush out stubborn oil reserves.
A second, “newly built advanced coal plant is in Kemper County, Mississippi, run by Mississippi Power, a subsidiary of Southern Company in Atlanta, Georgia”. That plant, which will turn the low-grade coal lignite into burnable gases, is designed to capture 3.5 million tonnes of CO2 each year, or about two-thirds of what it will produce. Like Boundary Dam, it will sell the gas for oil recovery.
Onward!
