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

Emissions in Arkansas

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


Arkansas's climate pollution, by source
🏭 Other: 36%🔌 Power: 37%🚗 Transport: 21%🏠 Buildings: 6%

Source: WRI, Mar 2021

    Decarbonize Our Buildings

    🏭 Other: 36%🔌 Power: 37%🚗 Transport: 21%🏠 Buildings: 6%

    6% of Arkansas'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 Arkansas's 1.6 million buildings.

    In fact, 50% of appliances in buildings in Arkansas are already fossil fuel free!

    That means we only need to electrify the remaining 787,000 dirty buildings in Arkansas. That's around 29,000 per year.

    Percent of Buildings electrifiedA chart showing the share of Buildings that have already been electrified and still based in fossil fuel.49.88% have been electrified, and the remaining 50.12% are fossil fuel based.Buildings ElectrifiedNot yetSource: Microsoft, Mar 2021; NREL, Dec 2021

    Electrifying all buildings cuts 6% of the pollution.

    🏭 Other: 36%🔌 Power: 37%🚗 Transport: 21%🏠 Buildings: 6%

    Decarbonize Our Transport

    🏭 Other: 36%🔌 Power: 37%🚗 Transport: 21%🏠 Buildings: 6%

    21% of Arkansas'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 872,000 vehicles in Arkansas and 1,000 are already electric (0.2% of the total).

    We need to electrify (or replace) the remaining 871,000 gas-powered vehicles. That's around 32,000 a year.

    Percent of Vehicles electrifiedA chart showing the share of Vehicles that have already been electrified and still based in fossil fuel.0.2% have been electrified, and the remaining 99.8% are fossil fuel based.Vehicles ElectrifiedNot yetSource: DOT, Feb 2021

    Electrifying all transportation cuts 21% of the pollution.

    🏭 Other: 36%🔌 Power: 37%🚗 Transport: 21%🏠 Buildings: 6%

    Decarbonize Our Power

    🏭 Other: 36%🔌 Power: 37%🚗 Transport: 21%🏠 Buildings: 6%

    37% of Arkansas'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 Arkansas

    5 coal plants

    Name: White Bluff
County: Jefferson
Megawatt Capacity: 1,800
Utility: Entergy Arkansas LLC

    White Bluff
    Jefferson County
    1,800 MW

    Name: Independence
County: Independence
Megawatt Capacity: 1,800
Utility: Entergy Arkansas LLC

    Independence
    Independence County
    1,800 MW

    Name: Plum Point Energy Station
County: Mississippi
Megawatt Capacity: 720
Utility: NRG Energy Services - Plum Point

    Plum Point Energy Station
    Mississippi County
    720 MW

    Name: John W. Turk Jr. Power Plant
County: Hempstead
Megawatt Capacity: 609
Utility: Southwestern Electric Power Co

    John W. Turk Jr. Power Plant
    Hempstead County
    609 MW

    Name: Flint Creek Power Plant
County: Benton
Megawatt Capacity: 558
Utility: Southwestern Electric Power Co

    Flint Creek Power Plant
    Benton County
    558 MW

    17 gas plants

    Name: Union Power Station
County: Union
Megawatt Capacity: 2,428
Utility: Entergy Arkansas LLC

    Union Power Station
    Union County
    2,428 MW

    Name: Hot Spring Energy Facility
County: Hot Spring
Megawatt Capacity: 1,430
Utility: Entergy Arkansas LLC

    Hot Spring Energy Facility
    Hot Spring County
    1,430 MW

    Name: Lake Catherine
County: Hot Spring
Megawatt Capacity: 752
Utility: Entergy Arkansas LLC

    Lake Catherine
    Hot Spring County
    752 MW

    Name: Magnet Cove Generating Station
County: Hot Spring
Megawatt Capacity: 746
Utility: Arkansas Electric Coop Corp

    Magnet Cove Generating Station
    Hot Spring County
    746 MW

    ...and 13 more

    1 oil plant

    Name: Municipal Light
County: Clay
Megawatt Capacity: 7
Utility: City of Piggott - (AR)

    Municipal Light
    Clay County
    7 MW

    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 4,000 MW of solar power.

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

    Since Arkansas already has 0 MW of wind and 68 MW of solar, that's 4,000 MW of wind power we need to build and 4,000 MW of solar power. That's around 139 MW of wind power and 157 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 37% of the pollution.

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

    🏭 Other: 36%🔌 Power: 37%🚗 Transport: 21%🏠 Buildings: 6%

    Other Emissions

    🏭 Other: 36%🔌 Power: 37%🚗 Transport: 21%🏠 Buildings: 6%

    The last 36% of Arkansas'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!


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