Oct 21 - McClatchy-Tribune Regional News - Robert Manor Chicago Tribune

By some measures John Rowe is among the greenest executives around.

His company, energy giant Exelon Corp., is the largest marketer of wind-generated electricity east of the Mississippi and runs a fleet of vehicles mostly powered by hybrid engines or fueled partly by biodiesel.

Rowe, a passionate advocate of the need to reduce greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, sounded the alarm on global warming to Congress back in 1992, long before the issue generated the momentum that gave Al Gore a share of the Nobel Peace Prize this month.

"The climate issue is real," Rowe said in a recent interview. "The science is just overwhelming."

But there's another side to Rowe, one that makes environmentalists shiver. As chairman and chief executive of Chicago-based Exelon, he presides over the nation's largest number of nuclear power plants. Under some circumstances, Rowe says, the company's fleet of 17 nuclear reactors in three states could expand.

Rowe sees no contradiction between operating a green company and operating a nuclear power company. In fact, he argues Exelon's relatively small contribution to greenhouse gases is a financial advantage, as he believes some sort of cap on emissions is coming. That would give Exelon a competitive advantage in the generation of electricity compared with coal-fired power plants, which give off massive amounts of greenhouse gases.

Environmentalists credit Exelon for its environmental initiatives but vehemently disagree that nuclear power is a clean source of electricity. "That is not the profile of a green company," said Howard Learner, executive director of the Environmental Law and Policy Center.

Therein lies not just a debate about a company but a debate about the future of energy. New nuclear plants are in the planning stages and could play a larger role in generating electricity for the U.S., now dominated by coal-fired plants which pour millions of tons of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.

Rowe argues that in 10 years many environmentalists will support nuclear energy as an alternative to fossil-fueled power plants.

Don't count on it.

Green up to a point

Environmental activists interviewed by the Tribune give Exelon and its Illinois subsidiary, Commonwealth Edison, credit for their environmental commitment.

But only up to a point.

"They are doing a lot of very positive things," said Jonathan Goldman, executive director of the Illinois Environmental Council. "John Rowe has been very supportive of looking at things like caps on carbon emissions."

"But they are still facing the nuclear waste issue," Goldman said.

Since ComEd began using nuclear fission to produce electricity on, 1960, it and its corporate parent's reactors have generated about 10,000 metric tons of extremely radioactive spent fuel.

As the nation still has no method for permanently disposing of nuclear waste, that spent fuel is stacked in pools of water or entombed in massive concrete casks at Exelon's nuclear plants in New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Illinois. That spent fuel must remain secluded from the environment for many thousands of years.

"It would be very difficult to position [Exelon] as a leading green company given the massive amounts of radioactive waste piling up at the company's nuclear plants," said Learner.

"That is not to say they are bad people," he said. "But they would not be at the top of the list of green companies."

Environmental critics worry that nuclear plants are intrinsically dangerous ways to generate electricity and no amount of environmental do-gooding can erase that fact.

Rebecca Stanfield, state director of Environment Illinois, acknowledges that Exelon and ComEd have done some environmentally positive things and could benefit financially from those steps. But she is among those who believe that the near-disaster at Three Mile Island and the catastrophe at Chernobyl are proof that nuclear power is not a desirable source of energy.

"I want to be balanced," Stanfield said. "On climate they happen to be poised to benefit from restriction on greenhouse gases, so it's not a surprise to see them saying the right things," Stanfield said. "We hope they continue to.

"But the future of the electric system needs to move away from coal and nuclear."

Rowe wants limits on carbon emissions, which environmentalists consider essential in slowing global warming.

On Thursday Exelon endorsed a bill by Sen. Joseph Lieberman, an independent from Connecticut who often votes with Democrats, and Sen. John Warner, a Republican from Virginia, that would limit and eventually reduce U.S. greenhouse gas emissions between now and 2050.

Requiring greater energy efficiency in everything from household appliances to cars to the way electricity is distributed can help reduce greenhouse gases significantly, Exelon says.

"Energy efficiency is the cheapest way to cope with a carbon-constrained world," Rowe said. Energy not needed is energy not generated, meaning less carbon dioxide is emitted into the atmosphere.

"I agree wholeheartedly with him on that," Stanfield said. "We stand shoulder to shoulder with him on that."

Earlier this year, lobbyists for ComEd helped win requirements for renewable energy sources and greater energy efficiency in Illinois. Stanfield and other environmental activists credit the lobbyists for helping pass the state's standards as part of an electric-rate deal that won consumers a rebate on their electric bills.

The bill requires that a quarter of the state's electricity be generated from clean renewable energy by 2025. It also requires that 1 percent of the state's energy consumption be met by energy efficiency improvements by 2012 and 2 percent by 2015.

Environment Illinois estimates those two measures alone could reduce the state's carbon emissions by nearly 53 million tons a year. The organization estimates that greenhouse gases from all sources in Illinois reached about 275 million tons this year, and will rise for the foreseeable future without action.

"We are the ones who insisted on it at the bargaining table," Rowe said of the new standards. Others involved in the negotiations agree that ComEd gave important help in getting the efficiency and renewable standards passed.

Conservation under way

ComEd has already started on energy conservation. Last year the company helped consumers buy 1.2 million discounted compact fluorescent lights. A similar program this year is expected to sell another million of the lights, which use markedly less electricity than standard incandescent bulbs.

And Exelon has been active on the national level.

For example, the company has lobbied the Energy Department to require utilities to install more efficient power distribution equipment, which reduces electricity losses. That is among the most basic steps toward energy conservation.

Rowe served as co-chairman of the National Commission on Energy Policy.

This year the commission called for U.S. greenhouse gas emissions to be cut by 15 percent from current levels by 2030. Among other things, it also called for a 4 percent annual improvement in motor vehicle fuel economy. Cars and trucks are a major source of greenhouse gases.

Bruce Nilles, director of the National Coal Campaign for the Sierra Club, said energy efficiency and reduced carbon emissions proposed by Exelon are great, but little time remains to act on greenhouse gas emissions.

"We need to get going fast," Nilles said.

On that, at least, he and the top executive of Exelon agree.

"I am very concerned we will wait too long," Rowe said.

rmanor@tribune.com