The forecast was clear with good visibility during the Land of Sky Regional Council’s Annual State of Our Air Quality Briefing held virtually on Friday, Oct. 30.
One of the most dramatic impacts to the improvement of air quality in Western North Carolina is the retirement of coal at the Duke Energy Progress plant in Asheville at the beginning of the year and the switch to natural gas.
Ashley Featherstone, with WNC Regional Air Quality Agency, said her agency was excited to see that and the region could anticipate “even more reductions in pollution” with the change. Her agency tracks ozone for WNC, and she shared for most of 2019, days were green with a handful of yellow (moderate) and just a slight few above that.
Jason Walls, with Duke Energy, shared how the company is investing in battery storage—a whopping $600 million across all its states. One project planned for Hot Springs will combine solar and battery for the largest commercial micro-grid, which will also help protect the community with reliable energy.
The company is on its way to meet the goal of a 70% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions (compared to 2005) by 2030 and to become carbon neutral by 2050, according to Walls.
“There’s never really been a more exciting time to be an employee at Duke Energy than right now,” he said.
Mike Abraczinskas, Director of NC Division of Air Quality, put the improvement of air quality in the region in perspective by sharing improved visibility in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.
“The visual range improvements are significant,” he said. “You’re seeing visibility improving from about 28 miles on the worst visibility days about a decade ago to just short of 50 miles today. So, that’s progress you can see, and it’s great proof that our partnerships are working.”
He showed data demonstrating how air quality has improved in the region, such as having ozone concentrations well below the 2015 standard at monitoring sites across Western North Carolina.
Elliot Tardrif, a meteorologist with the NCDAQ forecast program, shared how the agency now releases air quality forecast broken down by county. The need for smaller forecast regions was highlighted during the brushfires in 2006.
“The severity of fine particulate from wildfires can be very specific to an area,” he explained. Before, the highest level of risk would be released for the forecasted area when needed but now the daily forecasts are broken down by county.
“In addition we’ve learned elevated ozone concentrations are becoming increasingly localized,” he added.
Over the past year, one target for NCDAQ was to look at decreasing emissions in Charlotte, which drew attention to the impact of reduced traffic during lockdowns through the coronavirus pandemic. A lot of people are still working from home, which, as anticipated, Abraczinskas shared, has led to an overall reduction in vehicle emissions pollution.
One way the state, and Land of Sky Regional Council is helping reduce pollution from vehicles is in implementing the funding from the Volkswagen settlement. This money is helping buses and fleets to make a switch to cleaner fuel.
It’s also increasing the number of electric charging stations in the region. Locally, one of the agencies involved in the program is Cherokee Boys Club, which uses its own biodiesel. The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians will also participate in a program that will make its school buses electric.
Sophie Mullinax, project manager with Blue Horizons Project, covered more about efforts to reduce residential energy use. She’s been leading a community campaign in Buncombe County to help consumers learn to be more energy efficient and adopt renewable energy. One focus has been to bring down peak energy.
Asheville and the mountains are unique in the state because peak demand reaches its highest during the winter. In particular, demand is highest in the morning as people rise to go to work and offices, too, are being heated.
“Focusing on peak demand has been important because if we know we can reduce it that reduces the overall energy that needs to be produced,” she said. “Residential energy use is a significant driver of winter peak demand. A lot of the focus is what can they do to reduce demand?”
In homes, the biggest contributor to greenhouse gas emissions is heat— accounting for 30% of energy use. To bring that down, Blue Horizons Project is helping people connect with programs like Duke Energy EnergyWise that allows the company to cycle heat on and off during a handful of peak days and in turn the residents get a credit on their bill. Other programs include weatherization and in-home assessments.
To learn more about Land of Sky and for resources on air quality and energy reduction, visit landofsky.org.