Shades of Green Update J.P. Blackford The George Washington University School of Engineering and Applied Science DEED Intern

Shades of Green Update – Agenda What’s New Where we are in 2005 – the Update Proposed New Additions Where do we go from here??

Shades of Green – What’s New? Biggest change from 2001 Shades –Non-Utility Generators

Shades of Green – The Update Public Power still leads the way with hydro and has the second lowest coal generation Non-Utility Generators have very high Natural Gas generation

Renewable Capcity Public Power’s position remained very strong, but showed no significant growth (but, neither did IOUs or Co-Ops). Vast majority of renewables are Hydro

A bit more on Renewables… We lead the way with Hydro We fall behind on non-hydro renewables to the Non-Utility generators

Fossil Fuel Mix -- Capacity PP uses less coal than all but Non-Utility PP uses more oil than the others But, the fuel mix isn’t really all that significant…

Fossil Fuel Mix -- Generation PP has significant non-utilized gas capacity –Peaking units are gas-fired –This is a snap-shot of one year PP coal generation has declined, IOUs increased, Co- Ops remained steady

Operating Coal Capacity Age Obviously, plants have gotten older, so the graphs show that change…

Emissions – Sulfur Dioxide PP retains its rank as the lowest Sulfur Dioxide emissions

Emissions – Nitrogen Oxides PP is still lower than IOUs and Co-Ops, but, is higher than Non-Utility Generators

Emissions – Carbon Dioxide Based on Capacity We’ve improved! But, the Non-Utility generators emissions are lower than ours.

Emissions – Carbon Dioxide Based on Generation The trend between PP, IOUs and Co-Ops remains the same, but, Non-Utilities are slightly better than PP

Hydroelectric Capacity PP still has approximately 4 times the hydro capacity as IOUs

Non-Hydro Renewables Non-Utility Generators have significantly more non-hydro renewables. PP has increased its non-hydro capacity (by about 20%), while IOU capacity decreased and co-ops remained nearly the same

DSM Same general trend, though PP spending did decrease.

Landfill Gas Currently: 370 LFGE projects already exist and another 200 are under development In 2003, these projects removed over 17.7 MMTCE of methane annually, which equates to removing emissions equivalent to 14.3 million cars, planting 19.3 million acres of forest, or preventing the use of 152 million barrels of oil. Previously: 317 LFGE projects existed and another 54 are under construction Landfill gas may prove to be more significant since new EPA data shows that the heat trapping potential of methane is 23 times as strong as carbon dioxide – this is up from 21.

What’s New??

Zero Emissions Capacity This counts Hydro and Nuclear. PP clearly leads the way in these generating technologies that have no emissions

Mercury Graph considers Fossil Fuel generation only. PP has significantly lower mercury emissions than the other generators.

Green Pricing PP has significantly more utilities offering green pricing programs to their customers

Green Pricing – Continued PP average green pricing premium is less than IOUs or Co-Ops. This is misleading, though, due to IOU solar programs which have significantly higher premiums. Looking at the median, the premiums are similar…

Renewable Portfolio Standards Disclaimers –Hydro may or may not be counted in all of the state RPS standards –Some figures are misleading due to limited PP presence in some states –Credit may or may not be given for existing renewables in the proposed RPS

Why are we Green? Things we really can’t control: Location –We’ve got a lot of Hydro capacity due to where we’re generating our power (Pacific NW, for instance) Age –We got into the generation side later, so our plants are newer, and therefore cleaner Still…

Conclusions We’re still greener than the IOUs and Co- Ops… That’s great, but, it poses a bigger question:

Where do we go from here? How do we want to proceed on the Shades of Green Update Case Studies Small Member Contributions

The “spin” on the Update We’re still Green, but look at what we’re doing to become even greener… –Case Studies (more on that soon…) Policy Pressures that PP will be facing –GHG intensity –RPS –Others? Opportunities for PP –Landfill Gas –Anything Else?

Case Studies We want to show that while PP is green, we’re trying to be greener: –Tree Power –Holland (MI) mercury thermometer and industrial switch program –Others?? These are likely programs that we’re not getting credit for elsewhere!

Small Member Contributions How can we collect what our smaller (<25 MWh) generators are doing? –Most are exempt from reporting –Voluntary reporting may be too burdensome for smaller generators

Anything else? Other items to include in the update to Shades of Green Questions? Comments / Suggestions? J.P. Blackford