Colorado

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

Emissions in Colorado

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

Colorado's climate pollution, by source
🏭 Other: 39%🔌 Power: 27%🚗 Transport: 24%🏠 Buildings: 10%

Source: WRI, Mar 2021

    Decarbonize Our Buildings

    🏭 Other: 39%🔌 Power: 27%🚗 Transport: 24%🏠 Buildings: 10%

    10% of Colorado'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 Colorado's 2.2 million buildings.

    In fact, 28% of appliances in buildings in Colorado are already fossil fuel free!

    That means we only need to electrify the remaining 1.6 million dirty buildings in Colorado. That's around 58,000 per year.

    Percent of Buildings electrifiedA chart showing the share of Buildings that have already been electrified and still based in fossil fuel.27.93% have been electrified, and the remaining 72.07% are fossil fuel based.Buildings ElectrifiedNot yetSource: Microsoft, Mar 2021; NREL, Dec 2021

    Electrifying all buildings cuts 10% of the pollution.

    🏭 Other: 39%🔌 Power: 27%🚗 Transport: 24%🏠 Buildings: 10%

    Decarbonize Our Transport

    🏭 Other: 39%🔌 Power: 27%🚗 Transport: 24%🏠 Buildings: 10%

    24% of Colorado'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 1.6 million vehicles in Colorado and 25,000 are already electric (1.5% of the total).

    We need to electrify (or replace) the remaining 1.6 million gas-powered vehicles. That's around 60,000 a year.

    Percent of Vehicles electrifiedA chart showing the share of Vehicles that have already been electrified and still based in fossil fuel.1.5% have been electrified, and the remaining 98.5% are fossil fuel based.Vehicles ElectrifiedNot yetSource: DOT, Feb 2021

    Electrifying all transportation cuts 24% of the pollution.

    🏭 Other: 39%🔌 Power: 27%🚗 Transport: 24%🏠 Buildings: 10%

    Decarbonize Our Power

    🏭 Other: 39%🔌 Power: 27%🚗 Transport: 24%🏠 Buildings: 10%

    27% of Colorado'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 Colorado

    9 coal plants

    Name: Comanche (470) County: Pueblo Megawatt Capacity: 1,635 Utility: Public Service Co of Colorado

    Comanche (470)
    Pueblo County
    1,635 MW

    Name: Craig County: Moffat Megawatt Capacity: 1,428 Utility: Tri-State G & T Assn, Inc

    Craig
    Moffat County
    1,428 MW

    Name: Rawhide Energy Station County: Larimer Megawatt Capacity: 800 Utility: Platte River Power Authority

    Rawhide Energy Station
    Larimer County
    800 MW

    Name: Pawnee County: Morgan Megawatt Capacity: 552 Utility: Public Service Co of Colorado

    Pawnee
    Morgan County
    552 MW

    Name: Hayden County: Routt Megawatt Capacity: 465 Utility: Public Service Co of Colorado

    Hayden
    Routt County
    465 MW

    Name: Ray D Nixon County: El Paso Megawatt Capacity: 283 Utility: City of Colorado Springs - (CO)

    Ray D Nixon
    El Paso County
    283 MW

    Name: Martin Drake County: El Paso Megawatt Capacity: 257 Utility: City of Colorado Springs - (CO)

    Martin Drake
    El Paso County
    257 MW

    Name: Nucla County: Montrose Megawatt Capacity: 114 Utility: Tri-State G & T Assn, Inc

    Nucla
    Montrose County
    114 MW

    Name: Western Sugar Coop- Ft Morgan County: Morgan Megawatt Capacity: 3 Utility: Western Sugar Cooperative

    Western Sugar Coop- Ft Morgan
    Morgan County
    3 MW

    26 gas plants

    Name: Cherokee County: Adams Megawatt Capacity: 1,427 Utility: Public Service Co of Colorado

    Cherokee
    Adams County
    1,427 MW

    Name: Fort St. Vrain County: Weld Megawatt Capacity: 1,149 Utility: Public Service Co of Colorado

    Fort St. Vrain
    Weld County
    1,149 MW

    Name: Rocky Mountain Energy Center County: Weld Megawatt Capacity: 685 Utility: Public Service Co of Colorado

    Rocky Mountain Energy Center
    Weld County
    685 MW

    Name: Front Range Power Plant County: El Paso Megawatt Capacity: 554 Utility: City of Colorado Springs - (CO)

    Front Range Power Plant
    El Paso County
    554 MW

    ...and 22 more

    6 oil plants

    Name: Burlington (CO) County: Kit Carson Megawatt Capacity: 129 Utility: Tri-State G & T Assn, Inc

    Burlington (CO)
    Kit Carson County
    129 MW

    Name: Pueblo County: Pueblo Megawatt Capacity: 31 Utility: Black Hills Colorado Electric, LLC

    Pueblo
    Pueblo County
    31 MW

    Name: La Junta County: Otero Megawatt Capacity: 19 Utility: City of La Junta - (CO)

    La Junta
    Otero County
    19 MW

    Name: Rocky Ford County: Otero Megawatt Capacity: 12 Utility: Black Hills Colorado Electric, LLC

    Rocky Ford
    Otero County
    12 MW

    Name: Airport Industrial County: Pueblo Megawatt Capacity: 10 Utility: Black Hills Colorado Electric, LLC

    Airport Industrial
    Pueblo County
    10 MW

    Name: Holly County: Prowers Megawatt Capacity: 6 Utility: Town of Holly - (CO)

    Holly
    Prowers County
    6 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 7,000 megawatt (MW) [?] of wind power and 6,000 MW of solar power.

    Since the average wind turbine provides 2.75 MW of peak capacity, Colorado would need to install about 2,000 turbines.

    Since Colorado already has 2,000 MW of wind and 318 MW of solar, that's 5,000 MW of wind power we need to build and 6,000 MW of solar power. That's around 186 MW of wind power and 214 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 17.5% 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 27% of the pollution.

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

    🏭 Other: 39%🔌 Power: 27%🚗 Transport: 24%🏠 Buildings: 10%

    Other Emissions

    🏭 Other: 39%🔌 Power: 27%🚗 Transport: 24%🏠 Buildings: 10%

    The last 39% of Colorado'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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