Electrical Utilities A Major Source Of Greenhouse Gasses

"This report examines and compares the air pollutant emissions of the 100 largest power producers in the United States, based on 2004 plant ownership and emissions data. These producers include public and private entities (collectively referred to as 'companies' or 'producers' in this report) that own nearly 2,000 power plants and account for 88 percent of reported electric generation and 89 percent of the industry's reported emissions.

The report focuses on four power plant pollutants for which public emissions data are available: sulfur dioxide (SO2), oxides of nitrogen (NOx), mercury (Hg), and carbon dioxide (CO2). These pollutants cause or contribute to significant environmental and public health problems, including acid deposition, global warming, fine particulates, mercury deposition, nitrogen deposition, ozone smog, and regional haze.

The report benchmarks, or ranks, each company's absolute emissions and its emission rate (determined by dividing emissions by electricity produced) for each pollutant against the emissions of the other companies."