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.
Cliffside's impact on air quality MOORESBORO, N.C. -- A $2.4 billion construction project in this community 60 miles west of Charlotte has drawn both criticism and praise for its potential impact on Mecklenburg County’s air quality.
Duke Energy is building an 800-megawatt, coal-fired, power plant that is expected to replace four similar generators, which have been in operation since the 1940s.
The utility says the new generator at its Cliffside Steam Station should be in operation by 2012 and could reduce the emission of some key pollutants by as much as 80 percent.
“When it’s constructed it will be one of the most efficient and cleanest coal plants in the country, bar none,” said Harry Lancaster, a Duke Energy project manager.
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State regulators granted an air quality permit for the new generator in January.
The Southern Environmental Law Center, acting on behalf of four advocacy groups, has appealed the state’s decision.
“A new (coal-fired generator) is going to be slightly cleaner than 60-year-old ones,” said Beth Henry, a critic of the Duke Energy project and a volunteer with the Carolinas Clean Air Coalition.
Henry said the utility has ignored concerns about carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas produced by coal-fired power plants.
“It will emit as much carbon dioxide every year as a million cars,” she said.
Company officials have said the replacement of older steam stations will gradually reduce the total amount of carbon dioxide released at its power plants.
Nearly half the electricity used by Duke Energy’s customers is currently generated by coal-fired plants, according to Rick Roper, Cliffside’s plant manager.
“Coal is a very abundant natural resource that we have in the United States,” he said. “From my perspective, in the foreseeable future, I believe it still plays a very vital role in providing this electricity that is so near and dear to all of our hearts."
