Microsoft and Amazon have acquired property near Xcel's retiring Sherco Power Plant. Credit: Minnesota Pollution Control Agency
This photograph shows a portion of the Sherco Power Plant near Becker, Minnesota. It's included with an article that concerns expanding the production of electrical power to meet the needs of planned data center construction and operation.
As is often the case, the picture doesn't show the smoke stacks that release the combustion products of the three boilers at the plant. They're not dramatic enough. Instead, it shows the cooling towers that condense the steam produced in the plant back into water after its energy is used to turn the turbines that produce the electricity that turns the wheels of businesses and homes. The vapor rising from the cooling towers is water vapor, H2O in the form of a gas, the same substance that makes up clouds. There's speculation that water vapor in the atmosphere can increase temperatures but water vapor is not a pollutant and causes no harm to the environment. This picture is meant to confuse and misinform the viewer.
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