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Activities & Programs
In addition to reducing emissions, adding more renewable energy to our portfolio and promoting the increase conservation, we are working hard to improve the environment in many other ways.
Legacy Projects
We are working to clean up or remediate contamination from former manufactured gas sites, including the Ashland Lakefront Project, and sites in Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin, and Fort Collins, Colorado.
Resource Conservation
Throughout our system we recycle and reuse products and materials used in our operations, including coal ash, water, oil, solvents, chemicals, batteries, lighting and lamps, paper and scrap metal.
Water Conservation
Xcel Energy uses water in the production of electricity to make steam and cool equipment. We also work to conserve water – particularly in the semi-arid regions of Colorado and the Panhandle of Texas.
In Texas, we’ve built up on the legacy we established in the 1960s that involves using treated recycled municipal effluent in our plant operations. In March 2006, we completed a new system that enables our Harrington-Nichols complex near Amarillo to utilize wastewater from a city treatment plant for cooling water. Use of recycled water reduces the need for fresh water, which then can be used for other purposes. Water savings from the Harrington-Nichols project is estimated at 1.5 billion gallons a year.
In Colorado, our Cherokee Generating Station north of Denver uses recycled water in our operations delivered from the Denver Water Board. Xcel Energy is the first and largest customer of Denver’s recycled water facility.
We’ve also carried out projects to conserve water at other Texas and Colorado plants, such as recycling water through boilers and cooling towers
Waste Reduction and Recycling
We seek to recycle and reuse products and materials used in our operations where possible – items such as oil solvents, chemicals, batteries, lighting and lamps, paper and scrap metal. We also managed to reduce the number of chemicals in our operations that are considered hazardous materials, such as flammable liquids, some paints and solvents, and contaminated soil from cleanups. Sine 1993, our chemical control program in Colorado, called HazTrac, has resulted in a 55 percent reduction in the number of unique hazardous chemicals we use.
We also are voluntarily phasing out equipment that contains polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) throughout our transmission and distribution system.
Coal Ash Recycling
Our power plants consume about 30 million tons of coal a year, which yields on average about 2.5 million tons of ash annually. Throughout our system, we put that ash to beneficial use, such as in concrete products, roadbed material and soil stabilization.
Conventional coal fly ash has been used to replace a portion of the cement in concrete since the 1950s. Fly ash complements the action of cement, making the concrete stronger and more durable. Using fly ash reduces emissions and energy consumption associated with construction projects because manufacturing cement is an energy-intensive process.
Fly ash also can be used to strengthen the sub grade beneath the base of roads and highways. We continually explore new uses for ash because it helps reduce ash disposal costs and landfill use, while providing economical recycled products for the construction industry.
Avian and Habitat Protection
We operate in some beautiful and pristine parts of the country, and we work to preserve distinctive habitat in each of those regions.
Transportation
Through our Utility Innovations group, we are researching Plug-In Hybrid Electric Vehicles (PHEVs) in Colorado and Minnesota. PHEVs are hybrid electric cars with additional batteries that be recharged daily.
We are also using biodiesel in some utility trucks.
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