Delaware

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To get to zero by 2050, Delaware must cut emissions by 3.7% a year

Emissions in Delaware

Million metric tons of carbon dioxide (CO2)  equivalent (MTCO2e ) emissions

Note: Grey area indicates missing data due to processing delays.
Source: WRI, Mar 2021

This is how we're going to do it

Delaware's climate pollution, by source
🏭 Other: 35%🔌 Power: 17%🚗 Transport: 33%🏠 Buildings: 14%

Source: WRI, Mar 2021

    Decarbonize Our Buildings

    🏭 Other: 35%🔌 Power: 17%🚗 Transport: 33%🏠 Buildings: 14%

    14% of Delaware's climate pollution comes from buildings.

    We burn fossil fuels to heat our air, water, and food.

    To cut this pollution...

    Let's electrify our heat!

    We'll replace...

    • Boilers and furnaces with heat pumps 
    • Gas stoves with electric induction stoves 

    ...in all of Delaware's 358,000 buildings.

    In fact, 42% of appliances in buildings in Delaware are already fossil fuel free!

    That means we only need to electrify the remaining 208,000 dirty buildings in Delaware. That's around 8,000 per year.

    Percent of Buildings electrifiedA chart showing the share of Buildings that have already been electrified and still based in fossil fuel.41.73% have been electrified, and the remaining 58.27% are fossil fuel based.Buildings ElectrifiedNot yetSource: Microsoft, Mar 2021; NREL, Dec 2021

    Electrifying all buildings cuts 14% of the pollution.

    🏭 Other: 35%🔌 Power: 17%🚗 Transport: 33%🏠 Buildings: 14%

    Decarbonize Our Transport

    🏭 Other: 35%🔌 Power: 17%🚗 Transport: 33%🏠 Buildings: 14%

    33% of Delaware's pollution comes from cars, trucks, trains, and planes.

    But mostly from cars.

    To cut this pollution,

    your next car must be electric.

    Or consider going car-free with public transit, bikes/e-bikes, car share, or other alternatives!

    There are 416,000 vehicles in Delaware and 2,000 are already electric (0.5% of the total).

    We need to electrify (or replace) the remaining 414,000 gas-powered vehicles. That's around 15,000 a year.

    Percent of Vehicles electrifiedA chart showing the share of Vehicles that have already been electrified and still based in fossil fuel.0.5% have been electrified, and the remaining 99.5% are fossil fuel based.Vehicles ElectrifiedNot yetSource: DOT, Feb 2021

    Electrifying all transportation cuts 33% of the pollution.

    🏭 Other: 35%🔌 Power: 17%🚗 Transport: 33%🏠 Buildings: 14%

    Decarbonize Our Power

    🏭 Other: 35%🔌 Power: 17%🚗 Transport: 33%🏠 Buildings: 14%

    17% of Delaware's pollution comes from burning coal, gas, and oil to make power.

    Dirty power plant

    To cut this pollution...

    Put solar panels on your roof!

    Then, we'll replace all fossil fuel power plants with solar and wind farms.

    We need to replace dirty power plants with clean ones (mostly wind and solar)

    ...and find good jobs for those workers.

    Current Fossil Fuel Power Plants in Delaware

    1 coal plant

    Name: Indian River County: Sussex Megawatt Capacity: 804 Utility: Indian River Operations Inc

    Indian River
    Sussex County
    804 MW

    8 gas plants

    Name: Garrison Energy Center County: Kent Megawatt Capacity: 361 Utility: Garrison Energy Center LLC

    Garrison Energy Center
    Kent County
    361 MW

    Name: McKee Run County: Kent Megawatt Capacity: 151 Utility: NAES Corporation - (DE)

    McKee Run
    Kent County
    151 MW

    Name: NRG Energy Center Dover County: Kent Megawatt Capacity: 118 Utility: Energy Center Dover LLC

    NRG Energy Center Dover
    Kent County
    118 MW

    Name: Warren F. Sam Beasley Pwr Station County: Kent Megawatt Capacity: 96 Utility: Delaware Municipal Electric Corp

    Warren F. Sam Beasley Pwr Station
    Kent County
    96 MW

    Name: Van Sant County: Kent Megawatt Capacity: 45 Utility: NAES Corporation - (DE)

    Van Sant
    Kent County
    45 MW

    Name: Red Lion Energy Center County: New Castle Megawatt Capacity: 25 Utility: Diamond State Generation Partners, LLC

    Red Lion Energy Center
    New Castle County
    25 MW

    Name: Brookside Newark County: New Castle Megawatt Capacity: 3 Utility: Diamond State Generation Partners, LLC

    Brookside Newark
    New Castle County
    3 MW

    Name: AGT001 Centerville Fuel Cell County: New Castle Megawatt Capacity: 1 Utility: 2016 ESA Project Company, LLC

    AGT001 Centerville Fuel Cell
    New Castle County
    1 MW

    5 oil plants

    Name: Hay Road County: New Castle Megawatt Capacity: 1,193 Utility: Calpine Mid-Atlantic Generation LLC

    Hay Road
    New Castle County
    1,193 MW

    Name: Edge Moor County: New Castle Megawatt Capacity: 710 Utility: Calpine Mid-Atlantic Generation LLC

    Edge Moor
    New Castle County
    710 MW

    Name: Christiana Substation County: New Castle Megawatt Capacity: 52 Utility: Calpine Mid-Atlantic Generation LLC

    Christiana Substation
    New Castle County
    52 MW

    Name: West Substation County: New Castle Megawatt Capacity: 20 Utility: Calpine Mid-Atlantic Generation LLC

    West Substation
    New Castle County
    20 MW

    Name: Delaware City County: New Castle Megawatt Capacity: 19 Utility: Calpine Mid-Atlantic Generation LLC

    Delaware City
    New Castle County
    19 MW

    Find the dirty plants near you

    Source: EPA, Jan 2021

    But wait!

    It's not enough to replace our power plants with wind and solar farms.

    To power our electric cars and buildings, we need two times the electricity we have today.

    In all, we'll need to build 793 megawatt (MW)  of wind power and 825 MW of solar power.

    Since the average wind turbine provides 2.75 MW of peak capacity, Delaware would need to install about 289 turbines.

    Since Delaware already has 1 MW of wind and 23 MW of solar, that's 793 MW of wind power we need to build and 802 MW of solar power. That's around 29 MW of wind power and 30 MW of solar power a year.

    Percent of needed Wind & Solar builtA chart showing the share of Solar and Wind capacity that has already been installed and rest to be installed. We are 3% of the way to what we need to be carbon neutral by 2050.MWs of Wind & Solar Built

    Source: EIA, Apr 2022

    Decarbonizing all dirty power cuts 17% of the pollution.

    And gives us zero-emissions power we need to eliminate pollution from buildings and cars!

    🏭 Other: 35%🔌 Power: 17%🚗 Transport: 33%🏠 Buildings: 14%

    Other Emissions

    🏭 Other: 35%🔌 Power: 17%🚗 Transport: 33%🏠 Buildings: 14%

    The last 35% of Delaware's climate pollution comes from other sources...

    This includes farming, landfills, industry, and leaks from gas pipelines.

    There's no one solution to solve these problems, but there are lots of great ideas:

    • No-till farming to keep CO2 in the soil
    • Capturing methane leaks from landfills
    • Capturing CO2 to make emissions-free concrete
    • Burning green hydrogen to make emissions-free steel
    • Plugging methane leaks from gas pipelines

    That doesn't mean there's no solution, it just means that clean electrification  doesn't help with these problems, and you could fill a whole book with covering all of them. We need to encourage our politicians to invest in researching new solutions and implementing existing solutions to these problems!

Ready to do your part?

Learn how to electrify your own machines and pass local policy to electrify the rest

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