West Virginia

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

Emissions in West Virginia

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

West Virginia's climate pollution, by source
🏭 Other: 34%🔌 Power: 52%🚗 Transport: 11%🏠 Buildings: 3%

Source: WRI, Mar 2021

    Decarbonize Our Buildings

    🏭 Other: 34%🔌 Power: 52%🚗 Transport: 11%🏠 Buildings: 3%

    3% of West Virginia'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 West Virginia's 1.1 million buildings.

    In fact, 46% of appliances in buildings in West Virginia are already fossil fuel free!

    That means we only need to electrify the remaining 565,000 dirty buildings in West Virginia. That's around 21,000 per year.

    Percent of Buildings electrifiedA chart showing the share of Buildings that have already been electrified and still based in fossil fuel.46.46% have been electrified, and the remaining 53.54% are fossil fuel based.Buildings ElectrifiedNot yetSource: Microsoft, Mar 2021; NREL, Dec 2021

    Electrifying all buildings cuts 3% of the pollution.

    🏭 Other: 34%🔌 Power: 52%🚗 Transport: 11%🏠 Buildings: 3%

    Decarbonize Our Transport

    🏭 Other: 34%🔌 Power: 52%🚗 Transport: 11%🏠 Buildings: 3%

    11% of West Virginia'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 509,000 vehicles in West Virginia and 600 are already electric (0.1% of the total).

    We need to electrify (or replace) the remaining 508,000 gas-powered vehicles. That's around 19,000 a year.

    Percent of Vehicles electrifiedA chart showing the share of Vehicles that have already been electrified and still based in fossil fuel.0.1% have been electrified, and the remaining 99.9% are fossil fuel based.Vehicles ElectrifiedNot yetSource: DOT, Feb 2021

    Electrifying all transportation cuts 11% of the pollution.

    🏭 Other: 34%🔌 Power: 52%🚗 Transport: 11%🏠 Buildings: 3%

    Decarbonize Our Power

    🏭 Other: 34%🔌 Power: 52%🚗 Transport: 11%🏠 Buildings: 3%

    52% of West Virginia'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 West Virginia

    10 coal plants

    Name: John E Amos County: Putnam Megawatt Capacity: 2,933 Utility: Appalachian Power Co

    John E Amos
    Putnam County
    2,933 MW

    Name: Harrison Power Station County: Harrison Megawatt Capacity: 2,052 Utility: Monongahela Power Co

    Harrison Power Station
    Harrison County
    2,052 MW

    Name: Mount Storm Power Station County: Grant Megawatt Capacity: 1,681 Utility: Virginia Electric & Power Co

    Mount Storm Power Station
    Grant County
    1,681 MW

    Name: Mitchell (WV) County: Marshall Megawatt Capacity: 1,633 Utility: Kentucky Power Co

    Mitchell (WV)
    Marshall County
    1,633 MW

    Name: Pleasants Power Station County: Pleasants Megawatt Capacity: 1,368 Utility: Allegheny Energy Supply Co LLC

    Pleasants Power Station
    Pleasants County
    1,368 MW

    Name: Mountaineer (1301) County: Mason Megawatt Capacity: 1,300 Utility: Appalachian Power Co

    Mountaineer (1301)
    Mason County
    1,300 MW

    Name: Fort Martin Power Station County: Monongalia Megawatt Capacity: 1,152 Utility: Monongahela Power Co

    Fort Martin Power Station
    Monongalia County
    1,152 MW

    Name: Longview Power County: Monongalia Megawatt Capacity: 808 Utility: Longview Power, LLC

    Longview Power
    Monongalia County
    808 MW

    Name: Grant Town Power Plant County: Marion Megawatt Capacity: 96 Utility: American Bituminous Power LP

    Grant Town Power Plant
    Marion County
    96 MW

    Name: Morgantown Energy Facility County: Monongalia Megawatt Capacity: 69 Utility: Morgantown Energy Associates

    Morgantown Energy Facility
    Monongalia County
    69 MW

    4 gas plants

    Name: Ceredo Generating Station County: Wayne Megawatt Capacity: 519 Utility: Appalachian Power Co

    Ceredo Generating Station
    Wayne County
    519 MW

    Name: Big Sandy Peaker Plant County: Wayne Megawatt Capacity: 353 Utility: Middle River Power II, LLC

    Big Sandy Peaker Plant
    Wayne County
    353 MW

    Name: Pleasants Energy, LLC County: Pleasants Megawatt Capacity: 344 Utility: Pleasants Energy LLC

    Pleasants Energy, LLC
    Pleasants County
    344 MW

    Name: Axiall Corporation Natrium Plant County: Marshall Megawatt Capacity: 123 Utility: Westlake Chemical Natrium Plant

    Axiall Corporation Natrium Plant
    Marshall County
    123 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 4,000 megawatt (MW)  of wind power and 5,000 MW of solar power.

    Since the average wind turbine provides 2.75 MW of peak capacity, West Virginia would need to install about 1,000 turbines.

    Since West Virginia already has 185 MW of wind and 3 MW of solar, that's 4,000 MW of wind power we need to build and 5,000 MW of solar power. That's around 145 MW of wind power and 185 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 2.5% 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 52% of the pollution.

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

    🏭 Other: 34%🔌 Power: 52%🚗 Transport: 11%🏠 Buildings: 3%

    Other Emissions

    🏭 Other: 34%🔌 Power: 52%🚗 Transport: 11%🏠 Buildings: 3%

    The last 34% of West Virginia'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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