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.
GAFFNEY, S.C. -- Water might be the biggest obstacle to Duke Energy's plan to build a new nuclear power plant in South Carolina. The facility near Gaffney would be Duke's first nuclear power plant in 20 years and its first not built on a large reservoir.
The Charlotte Observer reports that the company plans to draw about 50 million gallons of water a day from the Broad River.
About 15 million gallons would be returned to the river, while the remainder would evaporate from the plant's cooling towers. Opponents of the plant say the river can't give up that much water, but Duke and South Carolina officials say it can except during a severe drought.
The North Carolina-based utility says the plant will help supply electricity to as many as 60,000 new customers each year in the Carolinas.
