US power production company Calpine Corporation, which describes itself as a leader in environmentally preferred power generation, has pledged to further improve its low-carbon emissions profile.
Calpine’s goal is, by 2008, to reduce its greenhouse gas (GHG) efficiency-based emissions rate (pounds of GHG emitted/megawatt-hour of electricity generated) by 4% from 2003 levels.
To achieve its environmentally friendly policy goals Calpine is enhancing its operations and maintenance program and has patented new technologies to improve the fuel efficiency of natural gas-fired combustion turbines.
Calpine’s modern fossil-fuel power fleet is already one of the most efficient of its size in the nation, thus opportunities to reduce actual GHG emissions are limited, stated Calpine’s vice president of Safety, Health and Environment Neal Pospisil.
Despite that achievement, we aren’t stopping there. We’ve pioneered several plant performance improvement initiatives to achieve our GHG goal. And working with the EPA to establish an accurate accounting of our carbon emissions and baseline GHG intensity index is one of the first steps toward achieving our goal.
Currently, compared to the average fossil-fueled power plant in the US, Calpine’s combined-cycle, natural gas-fired units on average release nearly 54% less carbon dioxide gas.