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Voluntary Environmental Efforts
The U.S. electric industry is a world leader in implementing voluntary, flexible, and cost-effective initiatives to protect the environment. This is especially true regarding global climate change. According to the U.S. Department of Energy, electric utilities account for almost three-fourths of all voluntary actions taken to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions.
The electric utility industry incorporates responsible land management practices into all of its programs, including tree planting, vegetation control, timber management, fisheries and wildlife protection, transmission and facility line siting, and recreational land preservation.
Many electric companies also develop programs to help customers reduce their environmental impact. Below are examples of electric companies―and their customers―taking voluntary actions to protect our environment.
Protecting Our Air
- CVPS: Expanding Renewable Energy Projects
Following up on the success of its Cow Power program, which uses methane from cow manure to generate electricity, Central Vermont Public Service (CVPS) is now spending nearly $500,000 to explore the potential of a variety of other renewable energy sources.
- Tampa Electric: Continuing a Long History of Environmental Protection
Tampa Electric has a long history of anticipating environmental trends and regulations, working collaboratively with environmental regulators and complying with or exceeding environmental policies.
Addressing the Climate Issue
- AEP Leads San Cristobal Wind Project
After an oil spill threatened the coast of the Galapagos Islands in 2001, American Electric Power (AEP) led an effort to preserve the biodiversity of this exceptionally rich ecosystem, and in doing so, also created a model for the global promotion of small-scale renewable energy power generation and distribution systems in remote areas.
- Ameren Missouri Partnership to Generate Electricity From Landfill Gas
In a partnership with a local landfill, Ameren Missouri has announced it will install combustion turbines capable of generating about 15 megawatts (MW) of electricity by burning waste methane gas. The “Methane to Megawatts” project will be the largest landfill gas-electric plant in Missouri, and among the largest landfill generation plants in the country in terms of generating capacity.
- Duke Energy: Taking Actions to Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions
Duke Energy, a leading energy company based in Charlotte, NC, has reported actions under the U.S. Department of Energy’s Section 1605(b) voluntary greenhouse gas reporting program that have avoided or biologically sequestered (captured CO2 in living plants) greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to approximately 175 million metric tons of CO2 equivalent between 1991 and 2005.
- Progress Energy: Investing in Plug-in Hybrid Technology
Demand for electricity is growing as people continue to move to the South and existing residents build larger homes and use more electronics. However, even as demand for electricity is growing, so is the desire to address the challenges of global climate change and reduce our dependence on foreign energy sources. Progress Energy is pursuing a balanced energy strategy that includes investing in plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs).
- Tucson Electric Power Earns Ranking among Nation's Top Utilities for Expanding Solar Energy
Through creative business models and approaches, Tucson Electric Power (TEP) earned the sixth-highest ranking in the nation for per-capita additions to its solar energy portfolio in 2010. The ranking by the Solar Electric Power Association (SEPA) reflects the solar power systems that TEP expanded last year, as well as the photovoltaic arrays that the company added to local homes and businesses. TEP, which provides safe, reliable service to more than 402,000 customers in the Tucson metropolitan area, now has nearly 25 megawatts (MW) of solar generating capacity—enough to power more than 6,000 Tucson homes.
Preserving Our Land
- Ameren Missouri: Installing "Swan Diverters"
Ameren Missouri, with oversight from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, has begun installing 1,000 “swan diverters” on about 1.5 miles of high-voltage “transmission” power lines that cross the Riverlands Migratory Bird Sanctuary near Alton, Ill.
- Dominion: Students Digging "Project Plant It!"
In 2010, more than 36,000 elementary school students in Connecticut, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Virginia, North Carolina and Maryland learned about the value of trees in our ecosystem and how to recognize and care for trees through Project Plant It!. The program is part of a community effort to educate children, plant trees and improve the environment.
- Duke Energy: Preserving Land and Wildlife
Duke Energy, a leading energy company based in Charlotte, NC, is working with state and federal agencies to preserve wildlife habitats and nesting grounds throughout its service areas.
- Xcel Energy: The First Voluntary Avian Protection Program
Headquartered in Minneapolis, Xcel Energy is the first utility in the nation to voluntarily sign a memorandum of understanding with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to develop protection plans for their service areas.
- Southern California Edison: Discovers Major Fossil Find
The most comprehensive collection of fossils of its era in Southern California, more than 1 million years older than those at the well-known La Brea Tar Pits, was discovered by Southern California Edison (SCE) paleontologists.
Protecting Our Water
Developing Environmental Programs That Empower Customers
Post Your Story
- If you are an EEI member and would like to profile your company's voluntary efforts to protect the environment, please contact Keith Voight at kvoight@eei.org.