This summer, the plant's owner, Tampa Electric, will start a pilot project to turn another byproduct, coal ash, into concrete. A third byproduct, carbon dioxide that's now vented into the air, could be liquefied and sold to soda bottlers for carbonation, suggested Berry, the plant's former chief engineer. Such sidelines make Fort Lonesome, already Tampa Electric's least expensive plant to operate, even less expensive. Coal's proponents say future clean-burning plants will be less expensive. And because it's more energy efficient, Fort Lonesome contributes slightly less to global warming.
Natural gas is also far more energy efficient.
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