America’s Power Plants Are Mostly Really Old and Really Dirty
Three power plants owned by Southern Co. top the list of U.S. coal-fired sources of heat-trapping carbon dioxide emissions, according to rankings released today by an environmental group.
The Atlanta-based utility’s Plant Scherer in Georgia topped the list, emitting about 27 million tons of CO2 annually in 2007, according to the report (pdf) released today by Environment America. The James H. Miller Jr. Plant in Alabama was the No. 2 emitter, followed by Plant Bowen in Georgia.
27 million tons of CO2 in one year. As the chart on page 18 points out, that is the equivalent of about 4.8 million cars. What is that I keep hearing about clean coal?
The report is largely about the fact that most of the power plants in the United States are really really old, and thus, really really dirty. Consider this chart:
Here is the report:
