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PacifiCorp employs innovative air quality initiatives to reduce its environmental impacts. PacifiCorp is working tto balance
customers' growing energy needs with environmental concerns.
Reducing coal emissions
The company’s coal-fired plants burn some of the cleanest, lowest-sulfur coal in the nation, and its reserves of low-sulfur
coal are plentiful, providing a critical source of low-cost power. More than 75 percent of the company’s coal-fueled power
is scrubbed to reduce sulfur dioxide emissions. In fact, PacifiCorp’s sulfur dioxide rate is 70 percent below the national
average. The company has combustion controls to reduce oxides of nitrogen on 14 of its 26 coal-fired units, and its plants’
average emissions rate is 18 percent below the national average.
PacifiCorp continually evaluates coal resource development with a variety of western stakeholders. Any new coal generation
will be built in adherence to strict new standards for air quality controls.
PacifiCorp has been a leader in developing a market-based system to reduce emissions associated with visibility impairment
over the next two decades.
Coal-fired plants earn ISO 14001 registration
PacifiCorp's entire fleet of coal-fired power plants are ISO 14001 registered. ISO 14001 is an international, voluntary, environmental
management standard.To receive ISO registration, each power plant must prove it has the necessary processes in place to understand
its impact on the environment and the community, along with the methods to continuously improve its environmental performance.
Climate change
PacifiCorp is committed to building additional renewable generation and develop conservation resources with its customers
to reduce its carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions.
The company’s
2007 Integrated Resource Plan calls for adding a 2,000 megawatts of new wind resources by 2013. The company also funded the reforestation of 1,100 acres
of Douglas Fir and Ponderosa Pine in Washington and Oregon, which absorb or sequester additional carbon dioxide.
Among other projects, company efforts include collecting methane at coal mines and by funding the expansion of a company that
uses food waste to produce ethanol, which is used as a clean-burning fuel in automobiles.
In Oregon and Washington, PacifiCorp is also funding the reforestation of many acres of Douglas fir and ponderosa pine to
absorb or sequester CO2.
In 2006, PacifiCorp formed the
Global Climate Change Working Group to analyze and discuss utility best practices in managing emissions of greenhouse gases. The group primarily will be looking
for opportunities to reduce PacifiCorp's carbon footprint within the rules set forth by the six state regulatory commissions
it works with.
Rainforest preservation
According to The Nature Conservancy, deforestation accounts for 25 percent of annual carbon dioxide emissions. When trees
are cut and burned they release significant amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.
Conversely, healthy, standing forests absorb carbon dioxide through photosynthesis. They serve as one of the few means of
removing the greenhouse gas from the atmosphere.
Larger-scale PacifiCorp projects include aiding the preservation of more than 1.5 million acres of rainforest in Belize and
Bolivia. These two projects, developed in partnership with local partners and The Nature Conservancy, are expected to reduce
CO2 in the atmosphere by 40 million metric tons over the life of the projects.
The Noel Kempff Project in Bolivia
has received national acclaim for sequestering carbon, preserving 2.2 million acres of valuable forest, and promoting sustainable
livelihoods to neighboring communities. As one of the largest carbon sequestration projects in the world, the Noel Kempff
partnership reduces emissions of greenhouse gases by preventing deforestation from logging and other land uses.
The John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University bestowed its Roy Family Award to PacifiCorp and its partners,
as “an outstanding effort by public and private sector organizations working together to protect our environment or preserve
uniquely valuable natural resources.”
PacifiCorp also is working with The Nature Conservancy, the Programme for Belize and other utilities to preserve more than
153,000 acres of endangered rainforest in Belize. The project includes developing a sustainable forestry program, while preventing
the release of about 8.8 million tons of carbon dioxide.
More information on the company's sustainable efforts:
Policy & vision
Renewable energy
Waste reuse & recycle
Energy conservation
Habitat protection
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