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

Emissions in Connecticut

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


Connecticut's climate pollution, by source
🏭 Other: 15%🔌 Power: 19%🚗 Transport: 38%🏠 Buildings: 28%

Source: WRI, Mar 2021

    Decarbonize Our Buildings

    🏭 Other: 15%🔌 Power: 19%🚗 Transport: 38%🏠 Buildings: 28%

    28% of Connecticut'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 Connecticut's 1.2 million buildings.

    In fact, 27% of appliances in buildings in Connecticut are already fossil fuel free!

    That means we only need to electrify the remaining 882,000 dirty buildings in Connecticut. That's around 33,000 per year.

    Percent of Buildings electrifiedA chart showing the share of Buildings that have already been electrified and still based in fossil fuel.27.45% have been electrified, and the remaining 72.55% are fossil fuel based.Buildings ElectrifiedNot yetSource: Microsoft, Mar 2021; NREL, Dec 2021

    Electrifying all buildings cuts 28% of the pollution.

    🏭 Other: 15%🔌 Power: 19%🚗 Transport: 38%🏠 Buildings: 28%

    Decarbonize Our Transport

    🏭 Other: 15%🔌 Power: 19%🚗 Transport: 38%🏠 Buildings: 28%

    38% of Connecticut'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 1.2 million vehicles in Connecticut and 9,000 are already electric (0.7% of the total).

    We need to electrify (or replace) the remaining 1.2 million gas-powered vehicles. That's around 44,000 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 38% of the pollution.

    🏭 Other: 15%🔌 Power: 19%🚗 Transport: 38%🏠 Buildings: 28%

    Decarbonize Our Power

    🏭 Other: 15%🔌 Power: 19%🚗 Transport: 38%🏠 Buildings: 28%

    19% of Connecticut'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 Connecticut

    44 gas plants

    Name: Bridgeport Harbor Station
County: Fairfield
Megawatt Capacity: 1,158
Utility: PSEG Power Connecticut LLC

    Bridgeport Harbor Station
    Fairfield County
    1,158 MW

    Name: Middletown
County: Middlesex
Megawatt Capacity: 1,097
Utility: GenConn Middletown LLC

    Middletown
    Middlesex County
    1,097 MW

    Name: CPV Towantic Energy Center
County: New Haven
Megawatt Capacity: 842
Utility: CPV Towantic, LLC

    CPV Towantic Energy Center
    New Haven County
    842 MW

    Name: Lake Road Generating Company
County: Windham
Megawatt Capacity: 840
Utility: Lake Road Generating Co LP

    Lake Road Generating Company
    Windham County
    840 MW

    ...and 40 more

    20 oil plants

    Name: New Haven Harbor
County: New Haven
Megawatt Capacity: 642
Utility: PSEG Power Connecticut LLC

    New Haven Harbor
    New Haven County
    642 MW

    Name: Montville
County: New London
Megawatt Capacity: 495
Utility: NRG Montville Operations Inc

    Montville
    New London County
    495 MW

    Name: GenConn Devon LLC
County: New Haven
Megawatt Capacity: 242
Utility: GenConn Devon LLC

    GenConn Devon LLC
    New Haven County
    242 MW

    Name: South Meadow Station
County: Hartford
Megawatt Capacity: 167
Utility: NAES Corp

    South Meadow Station
    Hartford County
    167 MW

    ...and 16 more
    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, Connecticut would need to install about 1,000 turbines.

    Since Connecticut already has 1 MW of wind and 131 MW of solar, that's 4,000 MW of wind power we need to build and 3,000 MW of solar power. That's around 139 MW of wind power and 129 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 4% 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 19% of the pollution.

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

    🏭 Other: 15%🔌 Power: 19%🚗 Transport: 38%🏠 Buildings: 28%

    Other Emissions

    🏭 Other: 15%🔌 Power: 19%🚗 Transport: 38%🏠 Buildings: 28%

    The last 15% of Connecticut'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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