Pennsylvania

Back to map

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

Emissions in Pennsylvania

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

Pennsylvania's climate pollution, by source
🏭 Other: 36%🔌 Power: 27%🚗 Transport: 24%🏠 Buildings: 13%

Source: WRI, Mar 2021

    Decarbonize Our Buildings

    🏭 Other: 36%🔌 Power: 27%🚗 Transport: 24%🏠 Buildings: 13%

    13% of Pennsylvania'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 Pennsylvania's 5.0 million buildings.

    In fact, 31% of appliances in buildings in Pennsylvania are already fossil fuel free!

    That means we only need to electrify the remaining 3.4 million dirty buildings in Pennsylvania. That's around 127,000 per year.

    Percent of Buildings electrifiedA chart showing the share of Buildings that have already been electrified and still based in fossil fuel.30.89% have been electrified, and the remaining 69.11% are fossil fuel based.Buildings ElectrifiedNot yetSource: Microsoft, Mar 2021; NREL, Dec 2021

    Electrifying all buildings cuts 13% of the pollution.

    🏭 Other: 36%🔌 Power: 27%🚗 Transport: 24%🏠 Buildings: 13%

    Decarbonize Our Transport

    🏭 Other: 36%🔌 Power: 27%🚗 Transport: 24%🏠 Buildings: 13%

    24% of Pennsylvania'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 4.0 million vehicles in Pennsylvania and 18,000 are already electric (0.4% of the total).

    We need to electrify (or replace) the remaining 4.0 million gas-powered vehicles. That's around 149,000 a year.

    Percent of Vehicles electrifiedA chart showing the share of Vehicles that have already been electrified and still based in fossil fuel.0.4% have been electrified, and the remaining 99.6% are fossil fuel based.Vehicles ElectrifiedNot yetSource: DOT, Feb 2021

    Electrifying all transportation cuts 24% of the pollution.

    🏭 Other: 36%🔌 Power: 27%🚗 Transport: 24%🏠 Buildings: 13%

    Decarbonize Our Power

    🏭 Other: 36%🔌 Power: 27%🚗 Transport: 24%🏠 Buildings: 13%

    27% of Pennsylvania'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 Pennsylvania

    21 coal plants

    Name: Bruce Mansfield County: Beaver Megawatt Capacity: 2,741 Utility: FirstEnergy Generation Corp

    Bruce Mansfield
    Beaver County
    2,741 MW

    Name: Homer City County: Indiana Megawatt Capacity: 2,012 Utility: NRG Homer City Services LLC

    Homer City
    Indiana County
    2,012 MW

    Name: Conemaugh County: Indiana Megawatt Capacity: 1,963 Utility: KeyCon Operating LLC

    Conemaugh
    Indiana County
    1,963 MW

    Name: Keystone County: Armstrong Megawatt Capacity: 1,883 Utility: KeyCon Operating LLC

    Keystone
    Armstrong County
    1,883 MW

    ...and 17 more

    63 gas plants

    Name: Lackawanna Energy Center County: Lackawanna Megawatt Capacity: 1,665 Utility: Invenergy Services LLC

    Lackawanna Energy Center
    Lackawanna County
    1,665 MW

    Name: York Energy Center County: York Megawatt Capacity: 1,569 Utility: Calpine Mid-Merit LLC

    York Energy Center
    York County
    1,569 MW

    Name: Eddystone Generating Station County: Delaware Megawatt Capacity: 1,569 Utility: Exelon Power

    Eddystone Generating Station
    Delaware County
    1,569 MW

    Name: Fairless Energy Center County: Bucks Megawatt Capacity: 1,338 Utility: Edgewater Generation, LLC

    Fairless Energy Center
    Bucks County
    1,338 MW

    ...and 59 more

    26 oil plants

    Name: Martins Creek, LLC County: Northampton Megawatt Capacity: 2,112 Utility: TalenEnergy Martins Creek LLC

    Martins Creek, LLC
    Northampton County
    2,112 MW

    Name: Croydon Generating Station County: Bucks Megawatt Capacity: 546 Utility: Exelon Power

    Croydon Generating Station
    Bucks County
    546 MW

    Name: Sunbury Generation LP County: Snyder Megawatt Capacity: 491 Utility: Sunbury Generation LP

    Sunbury Generation LP
    Snyder County
    491 MW

    Name: Delaware Generating Station County: Philadelphia Megawatt Capacity: 392 Utility: Exelon Power

    Delaware Generating Station
    Philadelphia County
    392 MW

    ...and 22 more

    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 17,000 MW of solar power.

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

    Since Pennsylvania already has 404 MW of wind and 110 MW of solar, that's 16,000 MW of wind power we need to build and 17,000 MW of solar power. That's around 588 MW of wind power and 617 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 2% 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 27% of the pollution.

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

    🏭 Other: 36%🔌 Power: 27%🚗 Transport: 24%🏠 Buildings: 13%

    Other Emissions

    🏭 Other: 36%🔌 Power: 27%🚗 Transport: 24%🏠 Buildings: 13%

    The last 36% of Pennsylvania'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

Take Action