PowerTourist - Julianne Couch

About new coal plants

2011-12-20T09:04:00.001-08:00

Here's something I came across researching updates for my chapter on coal-fired power plants. It is often less expensive to mine for surface coal than it is to drill for natural gas. That’s one reason that when the price of natural gas skyrockets, developers are encouraged to propose new coal plants to take advantage of that less expensive fuel source. The DOE’s National Energy Technology Laboratory tracks the progress of new power plant development. According to their 2011 report, “Experience has shown that public announcements of power plant developments do not provide an accurate representation of eventually commissioned power plants. Actual plant capacity commissioned has historically been significantly less than new capacity announced.” But as of July 2011, eleven new power plants were under construction and one near construction, for a combined capacity of 7,704 megawatts from burning coal. The year 2010 was active for new coal plants, too, after many years of very few coal plants coming online. In fact, the DOE reports that more new capacity came online in 2010 than in any of the previous 25 years.

University of Nebraska, Spring 2013

2011-12-13T06:57:00.000-08:00

I am pleased to announce that the University of Nebraska press plans to publish Traveling the Power Line: Electricity from the Mohave Desert to the Bay of Fundy, in spring 2013. The book title has changed a bit since I started this project and may still change again if the marketing folks can think of something better. The delay in publication since this project has transferred from Texas Tech press to UNeb has given me the opportunity to update much of my research. I'm currently at work revising and updating my chapter on wind. I learned that there is much more wind development in Wyoming on private land on public. That's because the regulatory environment on public land(state and federal, such as BLM) is vastly more layered than on private land development. I've also revisited the 2009 Harris poll on attitudes toward energy development in the United States. In the 2011 survey, respondents say much the same thing: while only 12 percent of Americans say they are "very knowledgeable" about energy development, 53 percent say they are interested in learning more.I hope a few of those folks are regular readers! I'll continue to post some of my new findings in this blog. The publication impasse lulled me elsewhere, but I'm back!

Writing about Solar

2011-11-04T07:47:00.000-07:00

Even though my book travels, writing and general progress have been glacial of late, my interest in energy and sustainability continues. Thankfully I have Sustainable City Network as a place I can write for on these subjects. Case in point: in about fifteen minutes I'll be interviewing Barry Shear with Eagle Point Solar in Dubuque, Iowa. We'll be talking about the Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) that involved his business with a plan to provide rooftop solar panels for a city works building in Dubuque. Short version: Iowa law isn't clear whether these sorts of arrangements, that give renewable energy tax credits to tax exempt municipalities, are legal. We'll be talking about that. I'm also hoping to hear back from someone in Nevada, a state where so-called third party PPAs are legal. Nevada is the state I visited for my power tour, stopping by Acciona Solar Power outside of Boulder City. It was a PPA that made their arrangement to provide solar power to Boulder City and beyond possible.

Constantly changing plans

2011-08-15T06:48:00.000-07:00

Thanks to all all of you who've been asking when the book is coming out. Texas Tech University Press, with whom I had a contract, originally speculated it was to come out this fall, so that's the date I was going with. Then they pulled out of the project due to their own scheduling issues. I've since spoken with several publishers, who've asked for the manuscript. None seemed to feel the sense of urgency I do (whether or not I should, I still do.) Friday I got an email from a publisher who sounds very interested. It is a press I'd be crazy to pass up. But I can't let another two years go by only to once again find out they've dropped the project. I'm going to be cautiously optimistic this time, hopefully not to the point where they think I'm going to be Difficult. Fingers crossed, please...

Just a matter of time

2010-06-03T07:51:00.000-07:00

There has been so much vilifying of BP in the last month or so, much of it with good reason, as oil gushes from a gash in the Gulf of Mexico floor and glubs its way on to the marshes. But may I point out, it was just a matter of time before this happened. It was BP's bad luck to be the oil company it happened to. Perhaps BP should now stand for Bad Planning. At any rate, it could be too soon to focus on the good that can come from this disaster while the bad is still so very bad, and the families of 11 men are in mourning. But sometimes it takes a crisis to wake people up. Consider for a moment how many solutions are being put forth by interested individuals to solve this problem. Some of them are impractical at 5,000 below the surface, but others of them might just work. My main point, though, is the ingenuity of people. Ingenuity to make deep water drilling work is what got us here.
We are all responsible for the disaster in the Gulf: we all demand energy and transportation fuel every day. Sometimes directly to turn on lights or drive our car, sometimes indirectly, like to eat processed food, take medicine, wear clothing. Oil is a part of the energy portfolio that makes the world go around. Maybe we can find better ways to get that oil, better ways to use it safely, better ways to prolong the inventory of it we have. We're getting a whole lot closer to running out. Thanks, BP.

Final chapter in

2010-05-29T09:26:00.000-07:00

I think I set a land speed record in finishing the final chapter of Earth Wind & Sky: A Power tour. I sent the Chapter 9, A Maine Tidal Power Project, off to Texas Tech University Press on Thursday. When I say final chapter I actually mean draft. I look forward to some quality revision time this summer. I've already thought of things I'd like to change in the final chapter. For example, I read a story in the paper today about how many people are watching the Gulf of Mexico oil leak on the internet. An AP story today quoted a man who said seeing it all gush out made him think hard about how much energy he himself was using. Aahhh. The power of seeing things for oneself. In a nutshell, that's what has driven me in this project.

Ocean Renewable Power Company: Worth the Wait

2010-05-15T12:05:00.000-07:00

Finally, I made my trip to Maine to visit Susy Kist and Bob Lewis with Ocean Renewable Power Company. Susy is the marketing manager, who is based in Portland, Maine. Bob is the director of operations, based right there in Eastport. Susy took charge of me right away, making our first stop a mercy visit to the IGA where I could get a cup of coffee. From there we visited the Boat School, where final assembly of ORPC’s Beta Turbine Generator Unit (Beta TGU) took place this spring. Morrison Manufacturing in nearby Perry, Maine, built the Energy Tide 2 vessel, from which the Beta TGU is deployed. There are many cool things about the TGU. One of the things that struck me as most interesting is that the foils (not blades) in the TGU revolve in only one direction, yet their design allows them to spin regardless of the direction of the tides. ORPC's immediate goal is to gather data showing power created during one full lunar cycle. This process of being licensed to put power onto the electrical grid is a long one in which energy developers have to prove they know what they are doing and can do what they know how to do. Thanks to Skip Harris for taking Susy and me out on his cousin Butch's lobster boat so we could get a close up view of the TGU at its mooring site. And thanks to Bob for letting us into the craft shop so we could see the Quoddy Dam model, created to show a now-abandoned plan for tidal power developed during FDR's presidency.

Ground hog day and Maine

2010-05-06T13:24:00.000-07:00

The date approaches for me to try (again) to get to Eastport, Maine. I'm supposed to fly out of Laramie on Monday to Denver. That's as far as I got the last time I tried this stunt. The weather for this Monday is supposed to be cool and rainy (what else is new) but hopefully the pilots of the plane will be able to see the runway well enough to actually land on it and take me away. Let us all hope I get out of Laramie, get to Denver, then to Laguardia and on to Bangor. Tuesday morning I should be able to get up bright and early and head for Eastport. Susy Kist, bless her heart, is going to make another trip out there from her office in Portland to meet me. She is a saint.

Rescheduling Maine

2010-04-04T08:25:00.000-07:00

This is so depressing. I was sitting at the Laramie airport Thursday morning waiting for my 8 a.m. flight to Denver, then on to New York, then on to Bangor where I'd rent a car and get myself to Eastport.
Then whadya know. About 4 a.m. a big blizzard comes and doesn't stop. The airplane, which was coming down to Laramie from Worland, couldn't land in the half-mile visibility. It kept trying and even thought the visibility had increased to three-quarters of a mile, and all us passengers had high hopes, no luck. When the airport lady came out and said it couldn't land and they'd rebook us all on the 11:25, I knew my trip plans were ruined. My plane out of Denver was to take off just after 10 a.m. Even if the roads weren't closed, there was no chance to make it. There was also no way to reschedule my departure for later in the day. It is pretty hard to travel east, it turns out.
So, I'm going to try again. Hopefully Susy and Ocean Renewable Power Co. can fit me in for another visit in May. I plan to give myself an extra day between travel and touring, just in case. There's no reason to believe it won't still be snowing in Laramie in May.

Maine visit almost here

2010-03-26T09:11:00.000-07:00

I've been emailing Susy Kist at Ocean Renewable Power Company about my visit to Eastport, Maine, to see their Tidal Generating Unit in action. She's setting up a few people to meet with me. More importantly, she's given me good driving directions from Bangor, where my plane will land, to Eastport. I have motel reservations in Eastport and think I can wing it my first night in Bangor (I hope so - I'll be getting in there late, picking up my rental car, and hoping to collapse at the first motel I see.)
I just hope I survive changing planes at Laguardia. I don't know why but I'm a bit freaked out by the fact that I'm stopping there. I'm sure once I've done it and see that it is ok, I'll wonder why I was dreading disaster. Breathe, Julianne, breathe...

Remembering Maine

2010-03-12T11:18:00.000-08:00

Now that I have sent off most of the manuscript of Earth, Wind & Sky: A Power tour to Texas Tech University Press, I need to remeber I have one more chapter to write! That chapter will take me to Eastport, Maine, in just a few weeks. There I will meet with Susy Kist and others from the Ocean Renewable Power Company (ORPC.) In a press release they announced that on March 2 they unveiled the tidal energy company's proprietary Turbine Generator Unit (TGU) "With a capacity rating of 60 kilowatts, the TGU will be the largest ocean energy device ever deployed in U.S. waters.'
I expect I'll be seeing the TGU when I visit, and I'll meet lots of interesting people. I'd better get going and confirm my plans with her.

It's in the Mail

2010-02-24T11:46:00.000-08:00

If I may participate in a little self horn-tooting, my manuscript of Earth, Wind & Sky: A Power Tour was in the hands of the U.S. Postal Service as of yesterday. My husband packed it up in multiple layers of bubble wrap and plastic and bundled the whole thing into a Priority mail box. It is on its way to Texas Tech University Press. There editor-in-chief will send it out to various readers. I should know by early summer whether the book has been accepted, that is, whether it fulfills what I was contracted to do way back last summer. If so, then I imagine the readers will have ideas for revisions, and that's what I'll work on this summer. Then after I do that, the book will be copy edited, and I anticipate receiving many great ideas for improving my prose. If all goes well, the book will be released in early fall 2011. That seems like a million years from now but I think it will go by quickly. That is, if they accept it. There's always something to worry about!

Daily Yonder Nevada Solar One

2010-02-23T08:14:00.000-08:00

My story about Nevada Solar One that ran in the Daily Yonder recently has gotten a bit of attention. Thought I'd share the link here, too. Bill Bishop and Julie Ardery at Dailyonder.com ran the story with a picture of the desert tortoise, which figures into the debate about commercial scale solar power in the desert. Take a look! Here's the link.
http://www.dailyyonder.com/julianne-sun/2010/02/15/2590

EPA testing wells around Pavillion, Wyoming

2010-02-19T08:24:00.000-08:00

I was able to talk by telephone yesterday with Luke Chavez, who works for the Environmental Protection Agency, Region 8, in Denver. He is overseeing the testing of water in various wells in the area of Pavillion, Wyoming. This is an area long used to a mix of uses from agricultural to oil and gas development. About a year ago residents brought to the attention of the EPA that odd things were floating in their well water. Not only that, but the water smelled bad and tasted worse. Some of these wells were for human consumption, while others were devoted to agricultural purposes. Still others were production wells used in gas drilling.
The first round of testing turned up no chemicals that the Clean Water Act identifies as toxic. But that doesn't mean something bad isn't in the water, Chavez told me. That's why the EPA did another round of well testing in January. The results of this last round of testing should be released some time in May, he said. Then they hope to have a better idea of the source of the unpleasant water. The EPA is not assuming the cause is gas drilling, hydraulic fracturing, agriculure, or anything else. That's why they test.
Stay tuned.

Putting on finishing touches

2010-02-09T11:42:00.001-08:00

Well, at least for the draft of Earth, Wind & Sky: A Power Tour. I've received feedback from almost all of my outside readers. Jeffe Kennedy was the most recent reader to give me feedback. I'll take her great advice on my chapter about visiting a natural gas field in Texas. While there I saw drilling, hydraulic fracturing, and water recycling. Needing to update my information about well contamination in Wyoming possibly due to "fracking" I'll hope to contact Luke Chavez this week. He is the Superfund site project manager in charge of reviewing the problems at Pavillion, Wyo.

Remembering Maine

2010-01-04T13:13:00.001-08:00

I took the plunge and booked the flight for my trip to Maine. As soon as I corresponded with Susy Kist, the marketing manager with Ocean Renewable Power Company, I hopped on to Expedia. I wish I could control my itchy fingers when it comes to booking flights. I'm always paranoid that flight prices will go up and available seats from Laramie to Denver and back will disppear. There - I think I've just comforted myself that booking three months in advance was the right thing to do. Especially since I'm traveling on Easter weekend. I plan to fly out of Laramie on Thursday April 1 (uh oh) at 8 a.m. and get into Bangor at 8 something p.m. I'll be changing planes at Laguarida airport, which I don't think I've ever done before unless it was in 1973 when I went to Europe with my parents. Anyway, I've managed to pick the flight that doesn't change airlines a million times along the way. I'll fly into Bangor on Thursday, drive up to Eastport Friday morning, see the tidal generating unit in action (I hope) on Friday afternoon, and on Saturday make my way back to Bangor. There I'll catch a mid-morning flight on Sunday and repeat the process home. Except I'll gain back the two hours I'm losing by flying to the easternmost point of the country.

Winding down the chapters

2009-12-23T10:23:00.000-08:00

I'm at a stopping point on the last chapter I will write for awhile, this one on Wyoming coal. While I wasn't able to visit a coal mine, with John McPhee's smart words ringing in my ear I realized I could write about Powder River Basin strip mines, which I've seen many times. Who needs a stinkin' tour?
All of my chapters are either in the hands of readers or have been read and returned to me. I'll give the coal chapter over in a few days to Paul Wolff, in Tennessee, who knows from coal. Thanks also to writer/reader friends Laurie Milford, Jeffe Kennedy, RoseMarie London, Bill Markley, Doug Couch, John Freeman and the various folks who work for the power companies who've read for the technical details. I couldn't have gotten this far without you. And big thanks to Judith Keeling at Texas Tech University Press. She has given me an extension on my chapter about tidal energy. I could not arrange my trip to Maine to see the work being done there because it is still a work in progress. I have until the end of May to submit that last chapter. Everything else is due March 1 and I've no doubt I can get it all together by then. Scary!

The John McPhee Connection

2009-12-19T08:58:00.000-08:00

I am happy to report that this morning I spoke with John McPhee by telephone for close to a half hour. What an interesting man, very generous with not just his time but with his advice. I won't say that the following is a quote, but something he said about visiting coal mines and such reminds me of an old saying: It is better to ask forgiveness than permission. Not that he said that!
Anyway, thank you Universe, and thank you John McPhee!

Waiting for McPhee

2009-12-13T09:48:00.000-08:00

I am up to 18 months and counting with my request to visit Arch Coal in the Powder River Basin of northeast Wyoming. I'm starting to take the hint that they will not let me come for a tour to aid in my book research. Being the resourceful writer that I am, I had the idea that if I can't go to the source, perhaps I could go to someone who has been to the source. That led me to my Eureka moment: John McPhee.
I've read much of his work and he is my non-fiction writing hero. He has written pretty extensively about Wyoming but I have never met him. This morning I emailed the publicity people at Farrar Straus and Giroux, who published Uncommon Carriers. In that book he travels around with various folks in the transportation industry. One of those industries is the coal train beat, and he rides the train into one of the mines I wanted to visit. He talks quite a bit about Bill, Wyoming. You might recall that Bill is one of the stops in my book Jukeboxes & Jackalopes: A Wyoming Bar Journey.
I just fired off an incoherent and giddy email to FSG. Let us hope it works!

Nevada Solar One with photos

2009-11-29T11:56:00.001-08:00

Thanks to Michele Rihlmann-Burke at Nevada Solar One for sending me a DVD of a film produced by National Geographic. The film is about new technologies in solar power, with an emphasis on the concentrating solar technologies used at Nevada Solar One, just outside Boulder City, Nevada. I wish I'd seen it on a sunny day, but the DVD helps me imagine how it would have looked. The DVD also talks about other forms of solar power technology, such as power tower and linear fresnel systems, which might be coming down the pike in the U.S. soon. From the DVD I learned that the Las Vegas strip requires 4.5 million kilowatts of power each day. The Nevada Solar One plant is helping provide that power. But I gotta say, folks, would the world come to an end if the Strip powered down? Las Vegas is the brightest city on Earth, as seen from space. That's according to the U.S. Geological Survey. I guess if it weren't for solar power, that much more electricity would be coming to the strip from fossil plants. But just because we HAVE the power, do we have to USE it?

Computer troubles slow down posting

2009-11-21T08:05:00.001-08:00

The trip to Nevada was a rousing success for the Power Tour. I made two stops. First the Hoover Dam, where I got to wander around the area plus get a public tour of the power plant. Now I have a better idea how things work at Kentucky Lake and other dams, in general. The following day I was given a tour of Nevada Solar One. I didn't get to visit the actual power block but I got to wander the grounds (lots of wandering on this trip) and see the concentrated solar power facility at work. I will post pictures of this trip as soon as my computer gets its new motherboard installed.

Back in the game

2009-11-09T10:06:00.000-08:00

After several weeks getting off task visiting family around the country and working on the publication I edit, I'm renewing my efforts for the Power Tour. Tomorrow morning I leave Laramie, fly to Denver, then on to Las Vegas. I'll rent a car and head to my hotel at Boulder City, overlooking Lake Mead. I'll be busy on Wednesday. In the morning I'll be given a tour of Nevada Solar One, the third largest concentrating solar plant in the world. In the afternoon I'll take in the Hoover Dam. That'll allow me to put the finishing touches on my chapter about hydrolectric power, which focuses mostly on the TVA project at Kentucky Dam. The solar plant will be its own chapter. Look for occasional snippets of reporting from these places in my monthly contributions to DailyYonder.com.

Hope restored

2009-10-15T07:49:00.001-07:00

After temporary depression about not hearing back from folks, I heard back yesterday from John Harrison, Information Officer with the Northwest Power and Conservation Council. He provided me with this language about the Council's view regarding dam renewal on the lower Snake River.
"For the purpose of planning for this Fish and Wildlife Program, and particularly the hydropower system portion of the Program, the Council assumes that, in the near term, the breaching of any dams in the mainstem will not occur. The Council revises its Fish and Wildlife Program every five years, at a minimum. If, within that five-year period, the status of the lower Snake River dams or any other major component of the Columbia River hydropower system has changed, the Council can take that into account as part of the review process. "
Now if the 10 other people I've contacted will call me back I may have a book chapter!

Questions about dams and fish

2009-10-14T13:14:00.000-07:00

I have moved full speed ahead into my research and writing about hydroelectric power. Specifically, I am writing about my recent trip to Kentucky Dam, part of the TVA power system in the Tennessee Valley. I say "system" because the TVA also operates fossil fuel and nuclear plants in the Valley. I'm introducing the chapter with a diversion into the Snake River, which commences here in Wyoming and eventually joins the Columbia River to flow into the Pacific. I'm coming across an initiative to remove four dams from the lower Snake River in Eastern Washington. These aren't flood control dams; they are there for hydropower. Naturally, if one removes a dam built for hydropower, one loses that source of electricity. I've got emails in to the environmental group leading the initiative, and to a power coalition in the northwest that considers policy. I want to know more about this effort. Now I just need to sit back and hope one or both returns my messages. I'm finding in this research that people return phone calls and emails about 20 percent of the time. Sigh.

Interview tomorrow with Jay Ewing

2009-10-07T10:34:00.000-07:00

I'm making good headway writing about natural gas drilling in the Barnett Shale of North Central Texas. But I realized after my visit to the fracking site with my tour guides from Devon Energy that I needed help with some basic concepts. I have been hearing about problems dealing with industrial waste water left over from hydraulic fracturing of shale rock. I got some good information from Brent Halldorson with Fountain Quail, the company that is recycling that water for Devon. Tomorrow I'll speak with Jay Ewing, completions manager with Devon. I'll ask him about the recycling issue, and also about the fact that some people say fracturing can cause contaminants to seep into well water. I'll get to the bottom of it, I hope!