Atop the Tampa Convention Center under the brilliant morning sun on Nov. 8, 坦帕电 President 和 CEO 阿奇·柯林斯 laid out a transformative plan for a cleaner-energy future.
与新, emerging 和 future technologies, 坦帕电 will reduce its carbon-dioxide emissions to net zero by 2050. As part of this effort, the company has partnered with the University of South Florida to invest in a multi-year, multi-disciplinary “genius grant” to focus on innovation, research 和 workforce development.
With the city of Tampa, 坦帕电 is partnering to install a new solar panel array on the convention center’s roof. 正如柯林斯所说, it’s “hopefully … the first of many innovative 和 public-facing clean energy project in the city.”
Collins said more people need to know the success story of 坦帕电’s emissions reductions since the year 2000: 99 percent less sulfur dioxide, 95 percent less nitrogen oxide 和 50 percent less carbon dioxide, 25 percent more power capacity at the company over the same period – in addition to better reliability while customer electric bills have remained well below the national average.
These achievements lay the groundwork for the huge changes to come. Some will arrive sooner – like 坦帕电’s ability to double the number of homes it can power with energy from the sun (100,000 today versus 200,000 in 2023) – 和 some will result from innovation 和 technology to come.
“We believe this is what customers want,” Collins said. “另外, we acknowledge that the impact of climate change is real on our environment, especially in places like Florida, which are on the front line of climate change. We, 因此, feel obligated to do our small part to combat global warming … it’s simply the right thing to do.”
坦帕市市长 简Castor praised Collins 和 坦帕电 for their leadership.
“[Tampa] city government cannot take this path toward resiliency 和 sustainability alone,” she said. “That’s why we are very fortunate to have the partners we have in TECO as the sole energy provider in … the Hillsborough County area. We are so very fortunate to have you here, 阿奇·柯林斯, as the president 和 CEO of [坦帕电].”
土卫五法, interim president of USF, added her enthusiastic voice of support as well.
“This is really an ideal partnership if you think about it,” Law said. “It pairs 坦帕电’s longtime environmental sustainability 和 leadership with our own research university that is focused on global sustainability 和 resiliency. We are looking forward to achieving that goal of net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. That’s just around the corner. We need to get busy, we need to work fast, 和 we will!”
For more information on 坦帕电’s approach to prioritizing the environment 和 taking climate action, visit our Net-Zero Vision page at www.teconetzero.com.
