Puget produces dirtier energy

As part of its campaign to defeat local power efforts, Puget Sound Energy has made a lot of claims recently about how “green” the utility is.

I though you may be interested in the attached charts showing actual greenhouse gas emissions attributed to electric utilities in Washington.

The most telling chart is “Greenhouse Gas Emissions Per MWh.”

As you can see, electricity from PSE is more than five times as “dirty” as electricity delivered by the PUDs, which get more than 70 percent of their power from renewable hydroelectric resources.

Although PUDs sell about 10 million more MWh of electric to retail customers in the state than PSE, total PUD greenhouse gas emissions are about 80 percent less than PSE’s emissions.

The simple truth is that PUDs are far more ”green” than PSE and will continue to be far more green well into the future.

Both PSE and the PUDs are engaged in developing alternative energy resources, including wind and solar.

PUDs are also involved in landfill gas and research the potential of wave energy and tidal power.

But PSE relies heavily on coal and natural gas, and will continue to do so, while the PUDs rely on hydro.

Important to this discussion is the significant cost PSE faces if the state or federal government adopts a cap-and-trade program to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Please give me a call if I can answer any questions.

Dean Boyer

Washington Public Utility Districts Association

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