Energy Sector Under Scrutiny
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
16 March 2010
By Elwin Green,
Perhaps no business sector is such an obvious candidate for going green
as energy. After all, fossil fuels often are villainized as public
enemy number one.
In response, the multinational conglomerates that dominate the sector
are not simply walking away from their GDP-sized investments in fossil
fuels. But they are responding to the growing concern.
Petroleum giant BP, for instance, launched its Alternative Energy
division in 2005, with a commitment to invest $8 billion in "low-carbon
energy" by 2015, including wind power, solar power and biofuels, as
well as research in carbon capture and storage. Tellingly, it also has
launched a rebranding campaign that ties its name to the slogan,
"Beyond Petroleum."
Closer to home, every watt of electricity, every cubic foot of natural
gas, every gallon of gasoline comes from companies that themselves are
major users of energy.
Most Pittsburghers receive their electricity from Duquesne Light. Like
other electric utilities, the company has a mandate from the state
Public Utility Commission to develop programs to help their customers
use less electricity. Duquesne Light's customer program, called Watt
Choices, offers incentives for actions ranging from replacing light
bulbs to recycling refrigerators.
But what about its own energy use? Spokesman Joseph H. Vallarian said
the company is taking measures similar to those that it encourages
customers to take. In its Downtown offices, Duquesne Light has replaced
incandescent bulbs with compact fluorescent bulbs. At its scattered
facilities, "we use energy-efficient lighting outdoors where possible."
The company also has recycling policies in place for employees.
Mr. Vallarian said the company also has purchased "a couple of hybrid
bucket trucks" for field work. "We're trying those out on an interim
basis to see how they do."
Still, the key question for an electric utility may be, how much, if
any, of the company's electricity comes from renewable sources?
In Pennsylvania, the answer has been mandated by the PUC. In 2004,
lawmakers passed Act 213, requiring that an increasing percentage of
electricity sold to retail customers be derived from alternative energy
resources, such as wind or solar. The commission then fleshed out that
requirement with yearly benchmarks, beginning with a target of 5.6
percent renewables in 2006-07, and concluding with 18 percent in
2020-21. The current requirement is 6.7 percent.
About half of the electricity used in the U.S. comes from coal-fired
plants. And Cecil-based Consol Energy is by far the region's biggest
coal company.
Spokeswoman Laural Ziemba knows how her industry is viewed by many with
environmental concerns. "There's a 250-year supply of coal in the
U.S.," she said. "It is incumbent upon us as an industry to apply
technology and innovation to recover those reserves in an
environmentally responsible manner.
"Being a fossil fuel company and being and environmental steward are
not mutually exclusive."
A recently-announced methane abatement project at the company's Enlow
Fork mine will capture methane released during mining that would
otherwise escape to the atmosphere. The captured methane will be
converted to carbon dioxide before being released into the air. This
does not sound like abatement until one realizes that methane absorbs
about 20 times the heat that carbon dioxide does, making it potentially
a much greater threat to the atmosphere.
In a separate project, Consol has installed a "micro-turbine" at its
Bailey Mine in Greene County that captures methane and uses it to
generate electricity.
A major step in greening Consol's internal operations was the
completion of its new headquarters. The 309,000-square-foot building
was constructed with low-emission paints, adhesives and carpet. Design
touches, such as energy efficient lighting and sunshades on the
building's exterior, will reduce energy costs by about 18 percent, and
helped to make the building the first one in Southpointe to be LEED
certified.
Pittsburgh's largest natural gas utility was recently sold by Dominion
Resources to a private investment group. The former Dominion Peoples,
now Peoples Natural Gas, is headed by Morgan K. O'Brien, who left the
CEO post at Duquesne Light to take the position.
Peoples is so new that when interviewed, Mr. O'Brien was the only
occupant of the company's new offices on the 16th floor of Two PPG.
That also means that is so new that formal policies regarding
sustainability have not yet been written -- and Mr. O'Brien doesn't
intend to be the one who writes them.
"My style is not to dictate," he said, "My style is to give a vision
and ask [managers] how to get there."
In describing that vision, Mr. O'Brien said that part of it will be
customer-focused: "We should be telling people how to use less gas."
"From the person out in the field who's installing something or fixing
something, to the person who answers the phone when somebody calls in,
to the employee who's appearing at the local carnival, we should all be
telling that story.
"The other piece to that then becomes, you have to live that," he said.
"We have to run the business the same way."
He is relying on the executive staff, which is still being assembled,
to figure out how to do that.
"I tell them, 'Look at this office. There's nothing here. It truly is a
blank sheet of paper. How we have water, and how we get coffee, and how
we use supplies ... all that is a clean slate of paper. Come back to me
with how we can not only talk the talk but walk it as well.'"
In years to come, Peoples, along with the other local utilities,
Equitable Gas and Columbia Gas, may receive an increasing portion of
their natural gas from the Marcellus Shale, the geological formation
underlying much of southwestern Pennsylvania that has attracted a swarm
of natural gas producers to tap its reserves.
Last summer, Range Resources began recycling wastewater from its
drilling operations. Now, said spokesman Matt Pitzarella, the company
recycles 90 percent of its wastewater throughout the Marcellus, and 100
percent in its "core operating area," which includes southwestern
Pennsylvania.
Other producers have followed suit, so that industry-wide recycling has
gone from zero a year ago to 60 percent now, he said.
Chesapeake Energy, another major Marcellus player, is walking the
industry's talk by making more use of natural gas vehicles in its fleet
and building refueling centers at some of its operating locations. The
lack of refueling stations has been a deterrent to the use of natural
gas vehicles in the past.
One of the most important elements of most consumers' energy landscape
is the family automobile. Keeping the ride rolling used to mean
stopping at a gas station that provided little more than the fuel for
which it was named. Now people refuel their cars at establishments that
make as much on coffee, soda, sandwiches and snacks as they do on gas.
As a destination that a consumer may visit once or twice a week, the
convenience store has many opportunities to model energy efficiency.
Giant Eagle's GetGo has gotten on the bandwagon, going so far as to
demolish a store and replace it with a more sustainable model. The new
GetGo at Baum and Morewood in Bloomfield, which opened in December, was
built with recycled materials, including sustainably harvested wood.
The Energy Star certified roof includes skylights that allow the use
natural lighting.
Outside, the landscaping is done with "drought-tolerant" plants to
conserve water. Speaking of water, the WetGo car wash is designed to
use only 30 to 40 gallons of water per vehicle, about the same amount
that the average consumer uses to take a shower.
As for fuel itself, the GetGo continues to offer biodiesel at several
pumps.
Dan Pastor, Giant Eagle's vice president of fuel and convenience
operations, said the new features are just an extension of a focus that
has been part of the company's culture since 1962, when it created an
in-house conservation department, and that more of those features will
appear in more stores going forward.
"We have a sustainability focus as an organization that drives us in
every step of the way, to try to make sure that we're walking the
talk," he said.
Engineering manager Brad Morris said the biggest challenge in building
more sustainability into the convenience stores is simply staying on
top "the amount of information and products that are becoming
available" to do that.
Do customers notice the differences?
"Customers who are more aligned with sustainability and those practices
really appreciate and like" the new features, Mr. Pastor said. But
those customers are the minority.
"It's very difficult to get the consumer's reaction unless you take the
time to have that one-on-one and have the conversation," he said.
Elwin Green: egreen@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1969.