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What is Acid Rain?
Acid Rain is rain with a pH of less than
5.6; results from atmospheric moisture mixing with sulfur
and nitrogen oxides emitted from the burning of fossil fuels;
may cause damage to buildings, car finishes, crops, forest
and aquatic life.
Clean Air Act Amendments
of 1990 (CAAA)
The acid rain provisions of the CAAA require reductions in
both sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide emissions from utility
sources. Reductions of these emissions are to be accomplished
in two phases. Compliance under Phase I was required by
January 1, 1995, and Phase II compliance was required by
January 1, 2000. To achieve the sulfur dioxide reduction
objectives of CAAA, emission allowances have been allocated
by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to affected
sources (e.g., Duke Energy’s electric generating units).
Each allowance permits one ton of sulfur dioxide emissions.
The CAAA allows compliance to be achieved on a national level,
which provides companies the option to achieve this compliance
by reducing emissions and/or purchasing emission allowances.
Phase I Compliance
Duke Energy’s operating strategy for Phase I was approved
by the state utility commissions of Indiana and Ohio. Our
compliance with Phase I sulfur dioxide reduction requirements
included:
(1) Increasing the sulfur dioxide removal rate of our
East Bend Generating Station Unit 2 scrubber
(2) Adding one scrubber on Gibson Unit
4
(3) Installing flue-gas conditioning equipment on certain
units
(4) Upgrading certain precipitators
(5) Implementing demand-side management programs
(6) Burning lower-sulfur coal at some of its major coal-fired
generating stations
(7) Including the value of emission allowances
All required modifications to our Indiana
and Ohio generating units to implement the compliance plans
have been completed, tested and are operational. To meet
nitrogen oxide reductions required by Phase I, we installed
low-nitrogen oxide burners at certain stations. In addition,
the successful operation of our Indiana Clean Coal
Project will further reduce sulfur dioxide and nitrogen
oxide emissions.
Phase II Compliance
To comply with Phase II sulfur dioxide requirements, Duke
Energy’s
current compliance strategy includes a combination of switching
to lower-sulfur coal blends, emission control devices, and
utilizing its emission allowance banking strategy. This
cost-effective strategy will allow us to meet Phase
II sulfur dioxide reduction requirements while maintaining
optimal flexibility to meet potentially significant future
environmental demands. Duke Energy intends to utilize its
emission allowance banking strategy to the extent a viable
emission allowance market is available. However, the
availability and economic value of emission allowances
over the long term is still uncertain. In the event the
market price for emission allowances or lower-sulfur
coal increases substantially from current estimates,
we could be forced to consider high-cost capital-intensive
options (i.e., installing additional scrubbers).
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Global Climate Change
Without certain gases in the atmosphere,
the Earth would be very cold and life as we know it would
be impossible. These gases, generally carbon dioxide (CO2),
trap heat from the sun and stop it from escaping into space.
For millions of years, the so called “greenhouse effect”
has kept the world warm because of the stability of gases.
With the increase of human activities, the world is experiencing
increasing levels of CO2 and other greenhouse-effect gases.
The result: experts believe the Earth will heat up and undergo
“global warming.” The greenhouse effect is a global
problem and must be addressed on a global platform.
What is Duke Energy
doing about Global Warming? PLENTY!
Based on Duke Energy's 2003 1605b report to the Department
of Energy (DOE), Indiana, Ohio and Kentucky released 1.92
pounds of carbon dioxide per kilowatt-hour (kWh) of electricity
generated. With more than a million customers in Ohio, Indiana
and Kentucky, more than 66 million tons of CO2 is released
in a year. We realize that burning coal releases CO2 and
other greenhouse gases that can act like blankets in the
atmosphere, trapping heat and possibly impacting global climate.
But we’re
a company of responsible individuals who want to do their
best to protect the environment for our customers and
future generations.
As a company with a conscience and as one
of the largest coal users in the country, in 1995 we became
one of the first utilities to sign up for the U.S. Department
of Energy’s “Climate Challenge” –
a voluntary, good-faith effort to find cost-effective ways
to cut CO2 emissions and prevent releases of other greenhouse
gases. Since then, we’ve cut CO2 emissions in three
basic ways:
• By generating electricity as efficiently as possible
• By helping customers use electricity more efficiently
• By taking steps to remove CO2 once it is in the air
Generating Power
More Efficiently
Heat rate, a measure of efficiency expressed in British thermal
units (Btu), is the amount of heat – from coal or
other fuel – needed to produce a kWh of electricity.
Duke Energy is one of the most efficient generators of electricity
in the nation – that is, we make sure we get the
most energy possible out of every kilowatt we produce.
Our heat rate of 9,942 Btu per kWh means we use less coal
to do it, which results in less CO2 released into the atmosphere.
Even so, we continue to study the use of
fuels other than coal – petroleum coke, trash paper
pellets and other energy sources, but none yet show significant
advantages in heat rate, economics or pollution prevention.
These other fuels are also harder to handle than coal and
present a variety of equipment problems for us that affect
reliability and long-term maintenance.
We also fund new-technology research to
find more efficient ways to produce electricity – ways
that produce fewer emissions but still meet customers’ growing
energy needs. The fuel cell, which is an extremely clean
source of electricity, is one promising technology that
may be feasible in the not-too-distant future, and Duke Energy
is involved in a collaborative effort to bring this technology
to market.
Helping customers
use less
If customers use less electricity, it means we don’t
need to generate as much, and that reduces emissions. We provide
energy audits for homeowners and businesses to show where
loose fitting windows, old furnaces or water heaters, inadequate
insulation, and other energy wasters might waste energy. We
also work with industries to cut energy usage through more
efficient motors and heating processes. In many cases, customers
just need information or education to increase energy awareness,
and we have booklets and programs for every age group.
Air-conditioning is a huge energy user in
the summer months. So we’ve installed chilled water
stations to replace standard, energy-wasting air conditioners.
These serve several downtown Cincinnati office buildings and
other public spaces without using potent greenhouse gases
such as chlorofluorocarbons or hydroflurocarbons. These stations
use less energy to produce a given amount of cooling capacity,
so it helps us burn less coal and emit less CO2 in the summer.
Actively removing
CO2
The natural growth process for trees and other vegetation
sequesters carbon, thus reducing the amount of CO2 in the
atmosphere. Duke Energy is involved in several aggressive
efforts to harness this potential.
Internationally, we partnered with three
other utilities in the Rio Bravo Carbon Sequestration Pilot
Project in Belize, Central America – a 125,000-acre
tropical rainforest we’re protecting from logging and
conversion to agriculture use. The trees grow to maturity
when their capacity to trap carbon diminishes. At that point,
they’re individually cut down and made into durable
goods such as furniture or building materials. The space left
by cut trees is replanted, and the cycle begins anew.
On a more local level, Duke Energy has partnered
with The Nature Conservancy, Ducks Unlimited, the National
Turkey Federation and other environmental agencies and organizations
to plant trees and prairie grasses at many locations in
Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana. Not only do we sequester carbon
through the plantings and avoid producing more CO2 by burning
gasoline to mow them, but we also save money by reducing
labor costs. Plantings such as these may trap carbon at a
higher rate than rainforest trees, so we’re working
with a university scientist to determine how much carbon
these efforts will sequester.
Another way we are reducing greenhouse
gases is by capturing methane at landfills. Most people
think their household trash decays and eventually becomes
soil through the landfill waste-disposal process. That’s
certainly the intent, but only part of the waste decays.
Even that is a very slow process because there is almost
no oxygen in a landfill for decay bacteria to survive. Methane
is released through this decay process, and because it is
a gas, seeps to the surface of the soil and escapes to the
air. Methane is about 22 times more potent than CO2 as a
greenhouse gas. So Duke Energy captures methane, which is
another name for natural gas, from certain large landfills
and pumps it into distribution pipelines for use in homes
and businesses. Using landfill methane in this way converts
it to CO2 and water vapor –
much less-potent products. It also helps offset the amount
of natural gas that will need to be taken from the earth
for human use.
Through several company-sponsored programs,
our employees also contribute to reducing CO2 produced
by burning gasoline. Through incentives and education, we
encourage car-pooling, bus riding and telecommuting to reduce
the number of single-occupant vehicles on the roads. This
improves air quality for everyone.
You can rely on
our commitment!
Duke Energy has played an active role in global climate issues
for several years, and we plan to remain active. We take
seriously our responsibility to provide safe and economical
energy sources for our customers, and our attention to global
climate and CO2 levels is key to satisfying that responsibility.
In 2003 we became the first major,
coal-fired utility to commit to a voluntary plan to reduce
its greenhouse gas emissions, and by an aggressive margin.
We are going to spend $21 million between 2004 and 2010
on projects to reduce or offset our emissions of greenhouse
gases, working with Environmental Defense, a national environmental
group that has been a supporter of market mechanisms to
achieve environmental objectives.
To meet our reduction goal, we plan to use
a combination of programs, including new technologies, carbon
sequestration, demand-side management, energy conservation,
improved generation efficiency and emission offsets. The offsets
are important, because load growth is likely to progress at
the rate of about two percent per year. We not only have to
offset those increases, but we also have to reduce remaining
emissions.
We recognize the potential significance of
climate change and believe that voluntary programs can be
implemented more quickly and effectively than traditional
regulatory programs. By stepping forward now, we can also
mitigate some of the risk associated with climate change issues
in the future.
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EMF and YOU: Questions
and Answers
What is EMF?
EMF refers to electric and magnetic fields. Voltages produce
electric fields; and electric currents produce magnetic fields.
The standard alternating current frequency of 60 hertz (cycles
per seconds) results in 60-hertz fields in the home and workplace.
The strength of the electric and magnetic fields varies with
voltage level, current flow, and distance from the electrical
source. As you move away from the electrical source, the field
strengths drop off rapidly – just as the heat from a
campfire weakens with distance from the fire. Electric and
magnetic fields are part of a broad spectrum that includes
radio, television, radar, microwaves, radiant heating, visible
light and sunlamps. EMF from electricity has a much lower
frequency and therefore less energy than these other waveforms,
although they are all considered to be electromagnetic energy.
The intensity of magnetic fields is stated in units of gauss
or milligauss. A milligauss is simply 1/1000th of a gauss.
Electric fields are measured in volts per meter.
Where is EMF found?
In addition to the earth’s magnetic field, which occurs
naturally, electric and magnetic fields are found around any
type of energized electrical wire or device, including household
appliances such as vacuum cleaners, radios, stereos, TVs,
personal computers, microwave ovens, waterbed heaters, electric
blankets, hair dryers, and even light bulbs. Electric and
magnetic fields are present wherever electricity is used.
Can you feel EMF?
In general, people cannot detect magnetic fields. There is
evidence, however, that some animals have magnetic crystals
in their bodies, which they may use for navigation. People
can sometimes detect electric fields because, under the right
conditions, this force can make hair stand on end.
The body’s normal currents that cause nerves to transmit
sensory impulses and cause muscles to contract are much stronger
than the currents induced inside a person by the electric
field from household wiring or by power lines.
Do underground
electric power lines have lower magnetic fields?
The earth does not reduce 60-hertz magnetic fields. In theory,
underground electric power lines could have lower magnetic
fields because the close proximity of the three insulated
conductors would produce greater field cancellation than occurs
on overhead lines. However, measurements at ground level above
buried distribution cables show magnetic fields comparable
to fields measured in neighborhoods having overhead distribution.
Burying electric power lines will not necessarily reduce magnetic
fields.
What do we know
about the health effects of EMF?
Since the early 1970s, many studies of EMF have been conducted
throughout the world, most involving laboratory animals or
cell cultures. Researchers have found some effects from the
electric and magnetic fields on animals and test specimens.
Overall, these effects have been small and very specific laboratory
conditions were required for them to be detected. The majority
of EMF studies have not been able to identify strong correlations
with specific health effects.
However, the fact that sensitive scientific
instruments can detect a change does not mean that the change
is harmful. Recent publicity has focused on possible health
effects of living and working near electric power lines. Over
the last several years, health studies of electrical workers
(usually linepersons or substation operators) have been done
in several countries. Overall, there is no consistent evidence
to indicate that the general health of the workers is affected
by EMF.
Much interest is currently focused on a few
studies, which suggest a possible association between power
lines and cancer. Some studies have reported a weak statistical
association between magnetic fields and childhood leukemia.
These same studies have also found no association between
other measures of fields and leukemia. Many respected epidemiologists
from universities and research institutions have been unable
to determine whether these results are due to coincidence
or show a real cause-effect relationship between exposure
to fields and cancer.
Many reputable organizations have studied
this subject, for example, the U.S. Congress Office of Technology
Assessment, the World Health Organization, the National Academy
of Sciences, and organizations in Australia, Sweden, Denmark,
Great Britain, and other countries. These agencies have generally
concluded that, based on the current scientific evidence,
there is no definite link between power line produced EMF
and human health.
What is Duke Energy’s
commitment to you?
Duke Energy is committed to providing reliable and economical
electricity in a manner consistent with our commitment to
the safety and health of our employees and customers.
That is why we support, encourage, and actively
participate in helping to examine and resolve the issue
of the health aspects of electric and magnetic fields. To
this end, we will continue to work with our customers, employees,
and the regulatory community on this issue.
Where can I get
additional information?
Call us at 1-800-262-3000. A specialist will answer your questions
or send additional information. The following sources can
also provide more information:
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Department of Engineering and Public Policy
Carnegie Mellon University
Pittsburgh, PA 15213
http://www.epp.cmu.edu/
(412) 268-2670
U.S. Government Printing Office
Washington, DC 20402-9325
http://www.gpoaccess.gov/index.html
(202) 783-3238
Publication number 029-000-00443-9
United States Department of Energy
1000 Independence Avenue SW
Washington, DC 20585
www.energy.gov
(202) 586-5000 or (202) 586-1482
United States Environmental Protection Agency
Office of Research and Development
401 M Street SW
Washington, DC 20460
http://www.epa.gov/ord/
(202) 382-7676 or (202) 382-7317
World Health Organization
525 23rd Street NW
Washington, DC 20037
http://www.who.int/en/
(202) 861-3200
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