Now that the carbon capture storage project at Boundary Dam is up and running, students from Hillcrest and Westview School, were provided with an inside look at the inner workings of the capture facility and the main power plant on a hot Friday afternoon.
Following a series of table-top science experiments at Hillcrest School that revolved around the different properties of certain liquids and gases, the Grade 7 students set off for Boundary Dam where Tim Schuster, senior director at the Boundary Dam Power Station, and project manager Mike Zeleny, led two groups of children on a tour of the facilities.
"This was really the first opportunity we had where we could have the kids come out like this and see the carbon capture project first hand," Schuster said after the tour, adding it was in conjunction with World Environment Day, which took place on June 5.
Upon arrival at Boundary Dam, students settled into a conference room where they were outfitted with helmets and safety boots and given a brief overview of what CCS is all about.
The rest of the afternoon consisted of a lot of walking and talking, as students toured the carbon capture facility, power plant and various control rooms, where many of Boundary Dam's operations are monitored.
"We're at the stage where we can do more education tours for kids," Schuster said at the end of the day.
Shane Davenport, a teacher at Westview who accompanied the group to Boundary Dam, said the tour at Boundary Dam opened up a lot of conversations that revolved around certain things students have recently been learning about in the classroom.
Climate change and Saskatchewan's high greenhouse gas emissions have been key discussion points, Davenport said.
"They're learning about our impact on the world and how we're trying to make things better in Saskatchewan," he said. "(The tour) fit really well with our curriculum."
Grade 7 student Darson Gunnlaughson was on site Friday afternoon, soaking in all the information provided to them throughout the afternoon.
"I think it's a really cool idea," Darson said about CCS technology.
The issue of climate change has been brought up in class, he added, and he said he hopes carbon capture will help fix the problem.
"I think climate change is a really big problem that we should be trying to fix," Darson said.
His classmate Xavius Kolke agreed with Darson's statement about climate change being a big problem, but noted not enough people are aware about climate change's negative effects.
"Not a lot of people know or care about climate change," Xavius said.
In addition to the carbon capture project, Schuster said SaskPower has increased its usage of natural gas-fired generation and its wind generation capacity.
