Carbon Capture

What we're doing:

• Captured carbon dioxide for the first time at Plant Yates in Georgia.
• Managing the Department of Energy's National Carbon Capture Center in Alabama, testing the next generation of technologies to capture carbon dioxide emissions.
• In 2011, will capture up to 150,000 tons of carbon dioxide per year at Plant Barry in Alabama, for underground storage.
• Proposing to build a commercial-scale 582 MW clean coal generating plant in Kemper County, Miss., with 65 percent carbon capture and sequestration.
• Host site for a U.S. DOE carbon sequestration demonstration project at Plant Daniel in Mississippi. About 3,000 tons of carbon dioxide are injected and being monitored.
• Endorsed Edison Electric Institute's Global Climate Change Points of Agreement, with long-range goals for carbon dioxide emissions reduction.

New Nuclear

What we're doing:

• Planning to construct two additional nuclear units at the Plant Vogtle site in east Georgia.
• Nuclear power, which currently supplies about 16 percent of Southern Company's generation, is emissions-free. Southern Nuclear has a 30-year-plus record of safely operating nuclear plants.
• If licensed by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the units, each with 1,100 megawatts of capacity, would be in service in 2016 and 2017.
• Our proportionate share of the estimated in-service cost of the two units, based on a current ownership interest of 45.7 percent, is approximately $6.1 billion.

Renewables

What we're doing: (note - each megawatt can power about 250 homes.)

• Biomass: constructing a 100 MW biomass unit in Texas; converting older coal plant to biomass in Georgia.
• Hydroelectric: 34 facilities with 2,730 MW.
• Landfill gas/Solid waste: DeKalb County, Ga. - 3.2 MW; Perdido Key, Fla. - 3.2 MW; Savannah, Ga. - 6.4 MW; refuse-fired generators, Bay County, Fla. - 11 MW.
• Solar: 30 MW solar PV plant under development in New Mexico in partnership with Turner Renewable; thin-film and concentrating PV installation at Georgia Power headquarters; similar plans at Alabama Power headquarters; PV billboards.
• Wind: offshore wind turbine studies - Ga. and Fla.; micro-turbines on billboards.
• Geothermal: 30 MW project in Hawaii.

Smart Grid

What we're doing:

• Southern Company system employees plan, design, build, operate and maintain $5.5 billion in transmission assets, including more than 27,000 miles of transmission lines, 3,300 substations, 154,000 miles of distribution lines, 3.6 million poles and more than 300,000 acres of right of way.
• Budgeted $4.1 billion in new capital expenditures over the next three years.
• Installing more than 4 million "smart meters" by 2012, which will help us lower costs and help customers manage energy use.

Energy Efficiency

What we're doing:

• EarthCents program helps customers save money and reduce energy use.
• Southern Company energy efficiency programs have reduced peak demand for electricity by 3,424 megawatts. That's enough energy to power 489,000 homes.
• Between now and 2020, Southern Company subsidiaries plan to spend $1 billion on energy efficiency and demand-control programs, reducing peak demand by an additional 1,000 megawatts.
• When comparing companies with peak demand of 2,000 megawatts and greater, the industry average reduction reported to EIA from demand-side management is 2.6 percent; we have reduced our peak demand by 8.3 percent through 2008.

Emission Reduction

What we're doing:

• Invested $7.5 billion in environmental controls since 1990; plans to invest additional $2.4 billion through 2012 to further reduce emissions of nitrogen oxides, sulfur dioxide and mercury.
• Since 1990, emissions of nitrogen oxides down 70% and sulfur dioxide down 60% while generation of electricity has increased more than 30 percent to serve the growing need for electricity.
• Managed more than $500 million in environmental research and development over the past decade.

Plug-In Electric Vehicles

Wondering if an electric vehicle is for you? Curious where you can get one? How you would charge it? How far will it go? What will it cost? How long will it last, and how are they better for the environment? Learn how to save money on fuel and maintenance costs, reduce their environmental impact, and contribute to our nation's energy security.