Exelon commits to big reduction

Exelon has developed their "2020 - a low carbon roadmap" where they will "reduce, offset, or displace more than 15 MMT of GHG's per year by 2020.

That's an aggressive goal and not atypical of utility companies in the United States. They understand the risk associated with not reducing and the opportunity they may have by being aggressive early.

They see their biggest opportunities for reduction in:

1. Efficiency improvements because of their "least expensive near-term reductions"
2. Boost output from existing nuke facilities
3. Build new high efficient nat-gas power plants to reduce use of the older plants. (Fuel switching)

They also want to help their customers reduce their emissions and offer more low-carbon electricity into the marketplace.

That's where it becomes interesting. In order to reduce their own direct emissions, they need co-operation from their customers. Yet, many of their customers have no idea of their own emissions nor the impact on Exelon's footprint.

The current legislation, such as Warner-Lieberman, do not necessarily push tracking downstream though it's the least expensive and quickest way to get us to significant reductions. It's coming but the most supported policies are lagging for now. I think it will catch up quickly and we will see economy-wide tracking legislation in place within two-years.