Duke Energy CEO Jim Rogers, left, and Anne Lauvergeon, CEO of Areva, pose with former President Bill Clinton after announcing a commitment before the opening plenary of the Clinton Global Initiative annual meeting Wednesday, Sept 24, 2008 in New York.(AP Photo/Jason DeCrow)
Excerpt from session:
2008 Clinton Global Initiative Annual Meeting
Opening Plenary Session: A Call to Action Clinton Global Initiative
Bill Clinton The third commitment involves AREVA and Duke Energy, so I'd like to ask Anne Lauvergeon, the Chief Executive Officer of AREVA, and Jim Rogers, the Chairman and President/CEO of Duke Energy to come up. This is a commitment to avoid approximately 4 million tons of CO2 emissions per year by 2014. Two global energy leaders are coming together to announce a new renewable energy business, with a commitment to carbon-neutral solutions and the creation of new green-collar jobs in the United States.
The Duke-AREVA partnership plans to design, build and operate 10 to 12 standardized wood biomass power plants in the U.S. by 2014, bringing to commercial scale this underutilized source of renewable electricity. One 50-megawatt wood biomass plant will avoid net emissions of 400,000 tons of CO2 per year, and generate enough electricity for 40,000 households. Wood biomass currently produces about 6,000 megawatts of electricity in the U.S., but estimates indicate we can double that between now and 2019. I can think of several places with shut down timber mills that would be happy to hear this announcement.