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

Emissions in Florida

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

Florida's climate pollution, by source
🏭 Other: 18%🔌 Power: 37%🚗 Transport: 42%🏠 Buildings: 3%

Source: WRI, Mar 2021

    Decarbonize Our Buildings

    🏭 Other: 18%🔌 Power: 37%🚗 Transport: 42%🏠 Buildings: 3%

    3% of Florida'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 Florida's 7.3 million buildings.

    In fact, 84% of appliances in buildings in Florida are already fossil fuel free!

    That means we only need to electrify the remaining 1.2 million dirty buildings in Florida. That's around 43,000 per year.

    Percent of Buildings electrifiedA chart showing the share of Buildings that have already been electrified and still based in fossil fuel.84.08% have been electrified, and the remaining 15.92% are fossil fuel based.Buildings ElectrifiedNot yetSource: Microsoft, Mar 2021; NREL, Dec 2021

    Electrifying all buildings cuts 3% of the pollution.

    🏭 Other: 18%🔌 Power: 37%🚗 Transport: 42%🏠 Buildings: 3%

    Decarbonize Our Transport

    🏭 Other: 18%🔌 Power: 37%🚗 Transport: 42%🏠 Buildings: 3%

    42% of Florida'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 7.8 million vehicles in Florida and 58,000 are already electric (0.7% of the total).

    We need to electrify (or replace) the remaining 7.8 million gas-powered vehicles. That's around 288,000 a year.

    Percent of Vehicles electrifiedA chart showing the share of Vehicles that have already been electrified and still based in fossil fuel.0.7% have been electrified, and the remaining 99.3% are fossil fuel based.Vehicles ElectrifiedNot yetSource: DOT, Feb 2021

    Electrifying all transportation cuts 42% of the pollution.

    🏭 Other: 18%🔌 Power: 37%🚗 Transport: 42%🏠 Buildings: 3%

    Decarbonize Our Power

    🏭 Other: 18%🔌 Power: 37%🚗 Transport: 42%🏠 Buildings: 3%

    37% of Florida'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 Florida

    7 coal plants

    Name: Crystal River County: Citrus Megawatt Capacity: 5,304 Utility: Duke Energy Florida, LLC

    Crystal River
    Citrus County
    5,304 MW

    Name: Seminole (136) County: Putnam Megawatt Capacity: 3,505 Utility: Seminole Electric Cooperative Inc

    Seminole (136)
    Putnam County
    3,505 MW

    Name: Big Bend County: Hillsborough Megawatt Capacity: 3,308 Utility: Tampa Electric Co

    Big Bend
    Hillsborough County
    3,308 MW

    Name: Northside County: Duval Megawatt Capacity: 1,407 Utility: JEA

    Northside
    Duval County
    1,407 MW

    Name: Curtis H. Stanton Energy Center County: Orange Megawatt Capacity: 1,262 Utility: Orlando Utilities Comm

    Curtis H. Stanton Energy Center
    Orange County
    1,262 MW

    Name: Crist Electric Generating Plant County: Escambia Megawatt Capacity: 1,229 Utility: Gulf Power Co

    Crist Electric Generating Plant
    Escambia County
    1,229 MW

    Name: Deerhaven County: Alachua Megawatt Capacity: 471 Utility: Gainesville Regional Utilities

    Deerhaven
    Alachua County
    471 MW

    62 gas plants

    Name: Martin County: Martin Megawatt Capacity: 6,072 Utility: Florida Power & Light Co

    Martin
    Martin County
    6,072 MW

    Name: West County Energy Center County: Palm Beach Megawatt Capacity: 4,263 Utility: Florida Power & Light Co

    West County Energy Center
    Palm Beach County
    4,263 MW

    Name: Lauderdale County: Broward Megawatt Capacity: 4,174 Utility: Florida Power & Light Co

    Lauderdale
    Broward County
    4,174 MW

    Name: Polk County: Polk Megawatt Capacity: 3,351 Utility: Tampa Electric Co

    Polk
    Polk County
    3,351 MW

    ...and 58 more

    4 oil plants

    Name: Bayboro County: Pinellas Megawatt Capacity: 227 Utility: Duke Energy Florida, LLC

    Bayboro
    Pinellas County
    227 MW

    Name: Stock Island County: Monroe Megawatt Capacity: 134 Utility: Utility Board of Key West City

    Stock Island
    Monroe County
    134 MW

    Name: Field Street County: Volusia Megawatt Capacity: 48 Utility: New Smyrna Beach Utilities Commission

    Field Street
    Volusia County
    48 MW

    Name: Marathon Generating Plant County: Monroe Megawatt Capacity: 25 Utility: Florida Keys El Coop Assn, Inc

    Marathon Generating Plant
    Monroe County
    25 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 16,000 megawatt (MW)  of wind power and 22,000 MW of solar power.

    Since the average wind turbine provides 2.75 MW of peak capacity, Florida would need to install about 6,000 turbines.

    Since Florida already has 0 MW of wind and 1,000 MW of solar, that's 16,000 MW of wind power we need to build and 20,000 MW of solar power. That's around 605 MW of wind power and 753 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 6% 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 37% of the pollution.

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

    🏭 Other: 18%🔌 Power: 37%🚗 Transport: 42%🏠 Buildings: 3%

    Other Emissions

    🏭 Other: 18%🔌 Power: 37%🚗 Transport: 42%🏠 Buildings: 3%

    The last 18% of Florida'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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