Examining the Barriers to Sustainable Power at Duke Energy: The Non-Profit vs. Corporate Perspectives
Date
2009-04-21
Author
Advisors
Patiño-Echeverri, Dalia
Blackburn, John
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Abstract
Electric utilities throughout the United States are under increasing pressure by the
government, the public and environmental groups to make the transition to clean power
as urgency over the need to address climate change grows. The Southeast will be particularly
hard-pressed to find substitutes for its numerous coal plants even as its nuclear
options face strong public opposition. A perfect example of this struggle is embodied
in the positions held by the North Carolina Waste Awareness Reduction Network (NC
WARN), a non-profit environmental group located in the Durham area, and Duke Energy,
a corporate electric utility provider with a generation mix comprised nearly entirely
of coal and nuclear plants. In order to meet North Carolina’s growing energy needs,
NC WARN has promoted a combination of energy efficiency, demand-side management, and
renewables while avoiding the need for new power plants. In contrast, Duke Energy
has asserted that only new coal and nuclear plants are capable of reliably meeting
this demand. This project analyzes why the two groups’ approaches differ and what
barriers and disincentives prevent Duke Energy from adopting NC WARN’s more “sustainable”
energy plan. It also offers recommendations for research, regulation, and policy solutions
that could be used to bridge this gap. This project also provides a closer examination
of the arguments surrounding Duke Energy’s controversial on-going construction of
a new coal-fired unit at Cliffside, North Carolina via analysis of Duke Energy’s cumulative
air emissions under various carbon scenarios. The results of this simulation demonstrate
that carbon tax policy and renewable energy incentives will play a major role in determining
whether a shift away from coal plants not involving nuclear will become a reality
for energy generation in North Carolina as well as the United States as a whole.
Type
Master's projectPermalink
https://hdl.handle.net/10161/954Citation
Kim, Eleanor (2009). Examining the Barriers to Sustainable Power at Duke Energy: The Non-Profit vs. Corporate
Perspectives. Master's project, Duke University. Retrieved from https://hdl.handle.net/10161/954.Collections
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