Clean sweep: utilities are embracing technology and cleaner-burning fossil fuels such as natural gas to help protect the environment.

• Author: Blake, Kathy
• Position: SPONSORED SECTION

Charlotte-based Duke Energy Corp. customers have the power to reduce their carbon footprint, the amount of carbon dioxide that's emitted from the fossil fuels they use. A greenhouse gas, carbon dioxide's rising atmospheric level has been linked to climate change. The utility's My Home Energy Report compares a customer's usage with comparable homes in the community, encouraging those who use more to reduce consumption by any one of several means. "Cutting-edge LEDs have become especially popular with customers visiting participating retailers or the online savings store," says Lee Mazzocchi, Duke's senior vice president of grid solutions. "Customers have purchased 4 million LEDs in the last two years." According to the U.S. Department of Energy, residential LED lighting uses 75% less electricity and lasts 25 times longer than incandescent lighting. And less energy means less carbon dioxide.

Duke--the country's largest utility--generates electricity for 7.4 million retail customers in six states. With more emphasis on energy conservation and a clean environment, utilities are eyeing greener methods of generation and encouraging business and residential customers to reduce energy use. "Across Duke Energy, since 2005, we've reduced coal generation by approximately 23%, increasing natural gas by about the same amount," Mazzocchi says. "We have retired over 4,700 megawatts of coal-generating plants and have plans to retire an additional 1,800 megawatts by 2020. When we replace coal generation with [natural] gas, carbon-dioxide emissions per megawatt hour decrease by about 60%, sulfur-dioxide emissions drop by about 99% and nitrogen-oxide emissions fall by about 45%."

The Obama administration's Clean Power Plan calls for carbondioxide emissions from coal-fired electric generation plants to be 32% below 2005 levels by 2030. Some states see it as an attack on the coal industry. North Carolina and 23 others challenged the EPA's compliance strategy. "North Carolina will continue our policy of cleaning up our power sector," says N.C. Department of Environmental Quality Secretary Donald R. van der Vaart. "North Carolina has one of the most efficient coal fleets in the country. Looking forward, we expect new-generation needs to be met with a combination of natural gas, nuclear and renewable energy facilities. [The Clean Power Plan] ignores North Carolinas success in reducing emissions and its advancements in renewable energy. In the next five years...