FPL Group lauded for lowering greenhouse emissions

The federal environmental agency has named FPL Group as one of seven companies in the nation to be praised for reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

The Environmental Protection Agency lauded the company, parent of Florida Power & Light, for ''achieving significant GHG reductions and leaving a smaller carbon footprint through EPA's Climate Leaders program,'' the agency said in a news release.

The company was cited for achieving its initial goal of reducing emissions by 21 percent per kilowatt-hour from 2001 to 2007.

The unregulated arm of the company, FPL Energy, is the nation's leader in wind and solar facilities and in recent years has purchased nuclear generators in New Hampshire, Iowa and Wisconsin. All those sources produce almost zero greenhouse gases, which are thought by scientists to be the cause of global warming.

In Florida, the utility gets 52 percent of its power from natural gas, which produces far less greenhouse gases than does coal, which accounts for 6 percent of the utility's power. FPL is also planning three solar projects.

Through all this, the company has remained hugely profitable. Last year, FPL Group earned $1.3 billion.

''EPA's Climate Leader partners are proving that businesses can save green by going green,'' EPA Administrator Stephen L. Johnson said in a prepared statement. ``These leading companies are reducing their climate footprints in cost-effective ways and contributing to this country's energy independence.''

Many Florida environmentalists, however, have criticized the utility for not doing enough to be green.

''While Environment Florida is encouraged by FPL's leadership in developing clean, renewable energy, the company should walk away from its plan to build two new nuclear power plants, which will dramatically increase energy costs for Florida's consumers and threaten the environment with radioactive waste,'' said Courtney Brigham, campaign organizer for Environment Florida's Clean Energy Now campaign.

The utility has said using nuclear power would be a much quicker way for the company to reduce its greenhouse gases in the state. With nuclear considered a renewable energy, FPL said it could have 20 percent of its new power generation coming from renewables by 2030, rather than by 2041, as the staff of the Public Service Commission has proposed.

In the EPA initiative, 226 Climate Leaders members represent more than 10 percent of the U.S. gross domestic product and have pledged GHG reductions equivalent to the emissions of nine million cars annually.

The other goal achievers named by the EPA on Wednesday were 3M, Pfizer, Hasbro, Caterpillar, Sun Microsystems and Mack Trucks.