Solving Complex Challenges
Since MRES was established in 1965, we have placed a high priority on environmental stewardship. This is part of our mission and it always has been.
In an era of growing demand for electricity and a heightened awareness of the environment, today's electric utilities find themselves in a unique position as power providers and protectors of the environment. Our commitment to the environment goes hand in hand with our compliance with governmental regulations concerning the environment, health and safety in the interest of protecting our member communities, their consumers and the general public.
Read our Sustainability Report to learn more about our mission to balance the provision of reliable, cost-effective energy with the utmost sensitivity to the environment.
Providing Energy for Tomorrow
MRES and our members have long enjoyed a balanced energy supply. Clean, renewable hydropower comprises about 40% of our members’ power supply. In recent years, our generating portfolio has grown more diverse with the addition of a new hydroelectric plant, and wind and solar energy resources, along with an increasingly aggressive program to realize energy efficiency and reduce the growth rate of our peak demand.
Here are a few other ways we're responding to the environmental challenges facing our industry and that of our nation:
- Environmental protection measures at our baseload power plants ensure that emissions of carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, mercury, and particulates are well below regional averages. We take very seriously our mission to balance the provision of reliable, cost-effective energy with the utmost sensitivity to the environment.
- Conservation and energy efficiency are the most environmentally friendly resources and, often, they are the least expensive. That's why we offer the Bright Energy Solutions® program, which provides incentives to those who install qualified new energy-saving technologies or retrofit existing equipment in their homes or businesses.
- We also offer proactive maintenance services — digital infrared scanning, ultrasonic inspection, motor testing, oil sampling of transformers and rapid imaging — to our member utilities and their business customers. These services mean significant savings both in terms of a customer's monthly electric bill and energy consumption.
- MRES contributes to other environmental stewardship projects, including the Crane Trust, the Missouri Sedimentation Action Coalition and the Demonstration of Energy-Efficient Developments (DEED) program.