Power Plants

The yellow roses of--Minnesota?

No one is singing about them yet, but power company officials are whistling about 130,000 long-stemmed beauties they grew in an experimental greenhouse in Sherburne County, Minn. The structure needs no fuel: excess heat from a coal-burning electricity plant near by is used to keep temperatures in the 60DEG-to-75DEG range. Hot waste water from the plant is pumped into the greenhouse through pipes buried in the soil. The sponsors of the $700,000 experiment --the Northern States Power Co., the University of Minnesota and the Environmental Protection Agency--found its potential intriguing. Along with the roses, some 25,000 Ibs. of tomatoes and 5,000 green peppers were also grown. The plant gives off enough waste heat to warm a greenhouse of 1,000 acres; theoretically, large-scale operations should be profitable. Revenue to date from sales of roses and vegetables: $23,000.

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