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Energy-Producing Power Plant Exhibit Planned At MOSI

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By MIKE SALINERO | The Tampa Tribune

Published: December 1, 2008

TAMPA - An energy center, featuring a wood-burning power plant and other working exhibits, is planned for Tampa's Museum of Science & Industry.

MOSI President Wit Ostrenko said the public's energy knowledge is limited to how much it costs to fill gas tanks or pay an electric bill.

"We're trying to create a means for the public to be aware of all the energy possibilities and, in a social science way, make them part of our society so we can get the direct benefits of a better standard of living," Ostrenko said.

Central to the center will be a wood gasification plant that produces six megawatts of electricity, enough to power 1,632 homes. The museum will buy chipped yard waste from Hillsborough County's Solid Waste Department to fuel the plant.

The gasification process releases much less carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas, than does burning coal for electricity. Jim Presswood, an energy analyst for the Natural Resources Defense Council, said carbon dioxide released by gasification was taken out of the atmosphere by the trees that are being burned, unlike carbon in coal, which has been locked underground.

"You don't have a net positive of carbon dioxide like you have with coal," Presswood said. "From a climate perspective, burning wood is better."

Ostrenko said he will try to get a private energy company to build and operate the gasification plant for free. The company can sell power from the plant to utilities, minus the power it takes to operate the museum.

"Our objective is twofold," Ostrenko said. "One is to demonstrate the process for the public in this energy center, and two is to alleviate our electric bill, which is $700,000 a year and going up."

Other exhibits will include 11,000 square feet of solar photovoltaic cells on top of a building at the museum and wind-powered generators.

The museum is at 4801 E. Fowler Ave. For information, go to www.mosi.org.

Reporter Mike Salinero can be reached at (813) 259-8303.

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