Sunset at Dixie, Utah
Several hours later by first day light we were back up again to packing up the vans and starting yet another busy day. We had another lecture at the Zion visitor center to learn about the green architecture the park used to minimize their impact on the surrounding area. The park uses simple techniques in their visitors’ center to make it both comfortable for people, but not invasive to the area. Also there is a public shuttle that you have to take around the park, which further minimize human’s impact on the area. We took one last look around the area to take in the natural beauty and we were off to Pacific Corp Energy to view their geothermal power plant. Mike Smith showed up the control room of the power plant and where the uptake wells were. He told us how they pull out all the gasses that come up with the water before it hits the turbine, mainly because one the gases expand it could be detrimental to the turbine. He went on to show us the second faze of the power plant where they pass the cooler water to spin yet another turbine. The water passes over liquid isopentaine, which has a lower flash point. The isopentaine spins another turbine and both the water and isopentaine are allowed to cool and re-condense in separate cooling/condensing towers. The water is then sent back into the ground via two injection wells. After the tour of the facility they showed us some open geothermal features much like the ones that were around Yellowstone. After the tour concluded we pilled back into the vans and headed on out to Dixie, right outside of Bryce Canyon, to set up camp. We had a meeting to talk about the day’s events and were amazing by a brilliant sunset that concluded our meeting. Each group made their dinner and slowly everyone made their way to bed. |
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