WASHINGTON – Addressing the growing demand for electricity worldwide, Southern Company Chairman, President and CEO David Ratcliffe said the company is focused on research and development of new and advanced technologies that will lead to lower emissions and cleaner production of electricity while helping maintain coal as a viable fuel source for the future.
“Taking no action is not a realistic or responsible option,” Ratcliffe told attendees of The Power of Technology: Ensuring the Global Future forum in Washington today. “As we move forward on dealing with greenhouse gas emissions, it is my hope and my company’s strategy to research, develop and deploy technologies that will allow us in the long term to not only meet our climate change objectives but also maintain and grow a reliable and affordable supply of energy. This effort will require major investments of time, money and human resources.”
Ratcliffe noted that Southern Company strongly believes that technology is the best way for the United States to do its part in addressing emissions of carbon dioxide. Moreover, he added, to achieve significant reductions in greenhouse gas emissions under any scenario, Southern Company and the power sector overall will need to develop and implement a full suite of clean coal technology options.
“Coal is an abundant and cost-effective source of energy for our growing world,” said Ratcliffe. “We have to maintain coal as a fuel option but in ways that meet the increasing demands of the public for not only reliable, affordable energy but also for continually reducing our environmental impact.”
Ratcliffe noted that global energy demand will increase more than 50 percent by 2030, and during that time period, the use of coal around the world is expected to double. In the United States, there is about a 200-year supply of coal. The Energy Information Administration said the use of coal in the United States will increase from more than 1.1 billion tons a year to just below 1.8 billion tons a year by 2030.
“We will have to use a broad mixture of resources to meet the projected increase in world energy demand by 2030,” said Ratcliffe. “Meeting that demand in this country would be a much more challenging task without coal.” Ratcliffe went on to say the use of coal has its challenges and that nuclear power, natural gas, renewables and energy efficiency all will be needed to address issues such as climate change.
With 4.3 million customers and more than 41,000 megawatts of generating capacity, Atlanta-based Southern Company (NYSE: SO) is the premier energy company serving the Southeast, one of America’s fastest-growing regions. A leading U.S. producer of electricity, Southern Company owns electric utilities in four states and a growing competitive generation company, as well as fiber optics and wireless communications. Southern Company brands are known for excellent customer service, high reliability and retail electric prices that are significantly below the national average. Southern Company has received the highest ranking in customer satisfaction among U.S. electric service providers for seven consecutive years by the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI). Visit our Web site at www.southerncompany.com.