Set sprinklers to water the lawn or garden only - not the street or sidewalk.
Use the microwave to cook small meals. (It uses less power than an oven.)
Purchase "Green Power" for your home's electricity. (Contact your power supplier to see where and if it is available.)
Scrape, rather than rinse, dishes before loading into the dishwasher; wash only full loads.
Cut back on air conditioning and heating use if you can.
Turn off appliances and lights when you leave the room.
MOORESBORO, N.C. -- Duke Energy Corp. provided tours Tuesday at the construction site of a coal-fired power plant in western North Carolina that environmental groups are trying to keep from coming online.
Construction began in late January, the day after the state Division of Air Quality approved the project's final air quality permit.
Duke is building the 800-megawatt generator at its Cliffside Steam Station about 50 miles west of Charlotte. When the new unit opens in 2012, Duke will close four of its five existing coal-fired units at Cliffside.
A coalition of environmental groups is challenging the $2.4 billion project, saying the generator will create unsafe levels of air pollution. Several organizations recently appealed Duke's air quality permit and asked a judge to order the company to stop construction until the permit issue is resolved.
The groups' most recent challenge focuses on a ruling issued last month by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.
The court found that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency violated the Clean Air Act when it scrapped a policy that required utilities to install the best available technology to capture mercury. The neurotoxin can damage developing brains of fetuses and very young children.
Duke's five power plants at Cliffside emit about 157 pounds of mercury annually. Duke said the new generator will use equipment that will reduce mercury emission by 90 percent, but opponents argue technology exists that can reduce emissions by up to 98 percent.
