Progress Energy sells electricity, so its promotion of a fleet of plug-in hybrid electric vehicles is not entirely a matter of social conscience.

Still, here's a case where one company's interests coincide nicely with the wider good. The more plug-in cars go into general use to replace gas hogs, the better for us all. Here's hoping the snazzy lime-green and white Toyota Prius PHEV that Progress executive Andy Honeycutt has been driving lately is but the first of a great many.

The Prius is no glorified golf cart. It's got a regular gasoline engine on standby if you need it. You plug it into the wall at night like a cell phone, and in the morning it's fully charged. If your driving is mostly local and you don't have a lead foot, chances are the gas motor will hardly ever kick in and you'll get mileage in the 75-85 mph range. Sweet!

Yes, that electricity has to be generated somewhere, but the over-all impact on the environment in terms of carbon footprint is still far less -- especially if the plant producing the power is a nuclear one.

So smile at Andy next time you see him silently tooling around town. He's the wave of the future.