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

Emissions in Florida

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


Florida's climate pollution, by source
🏭 Other: 18%🔌 Power: 37%🚗 Transport: 42%🏠 Buildings: 3%

Source: WRI, Mar 2021

    Decarbonize Our Buildings

    🏭 Other: 18%🔌 Power: 37%🚗 Transport: 42%🏠 Buildings: 3%

    3% of Florida'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 Florida's 7.3 million buildings.

    In fact, 84% of appliances in buildings in Florida are already fossil fuel free!

    That means we only need to electrify the remaining 1.2 million dirty buildings in Florida. That's around 43,000 per year.

    Percent of Buildings electrifiedA chart showing the share of Buildings that have already been electrified and still based in fossil fuel.84.08% have been electrified, and the remaining 15.92% are fossil fuel based.Buildings ElectrifiedNot yetSource: Microsoft, Mar 2021; NREL, Dec 2021

    Electrifying all buildings cuts 3% of the pollution.

    🏭 Other: 18%🔌 Power: 37%🚗 Transport: 42%🏠 Buildings: 3%

    Decarbonize Our Transport

    🏭 Other: 18%🔌 Power: 37%🚗 Transport: 42%🏠 Buildings: 3%

    42% of Florida'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 7.8 million vehicles in Florida and 58,000 are already electric (0.7% of the total).

    We need to electrify (or replace) the remaining 7.8 million gas-powered vehicles. That's around 288,000 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 42% of the pollution.

    🏭 Other: 18%🔌 Power: 37%🚗 Transport: 42%🏠 Buildings: 3%

    Decarbonize Our Power

    🏭 Other: 18%🔌 Power: 37%🚗 Transport: 42%🏠 Buildings: 3%

    37% of Florida'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 Florida

    7 coal plants

    Name: Crystal River
County: Citrus
Megawatt Capacity: 5,304
Utility: Duke Energy Florida, LLC

    Crystal River
    Citrus County
    5,304 MW

    Name: Seminole (136)
County: Putnam
Megawatt Capacity: 3,505
Utility: Seminole Electric Cooperative Inc

    Seminole (136)
    Putnam County
    3,505 MW

    Name: Big Bend
County: Hillsborough
Megawatt Capacity: 3,308
Utility: Tampa Electric Co

    Big Bend
    Hillsborough County
    3,308 MW

    Name: Northside
County: Duval
Megawatt Capacity: 1,407
Utility: JEA

    Northside
    Duval County
    1,407 MW

    Name: Curtis H. Stanton Energy Center
County: Orange
Megawatt Capacity: 1,262
Utility: Orlando Utilities Comm

    Curtis H. Stanton Energy Center
    Orange County
    1,262 MW

    Name: Crist Electric Generating Plant
County: Escambia
Megawatt Capacity: 1,229
Utility: Gulf Power Co

    Crist Electric Generating Plant
    Escambia County
    1,229 MW

    Name: Deerhaven
County: Alachua
Megawatt Capacity: 471
Utility: Gainesville Regional Utilities

    Deerhaven
    Alachua County
    471 MW

    62 gas plants

    Name: Martin
County: Martin
Megawatt Capacity: 6,072
Utility: Florida Power & Light Co

    Martin
    Martin County
    6,072 MW

    Name: West County Energy Center
County: Palm Beach
Megawatt Capacity: 4,263
Utility: Florida Power & Light Co

    West County Energy Center
    Palm Beach County
    4,263 MW

    Name: Lauderdale
County: Broward
Megawatt Capacity: 4,174
Utility: Florida Power & Light Co

    Lauderdale
    Broward County
    4,174 MW

    Name: Polk
County: Polk
Megawatt Capacity: 3,351
Utility: Tampa Electric Co

    Polk
    Polk County
    3,351 MW

    ...and 58 more

    4 oil plants

    Name: Bayboro
County: Pinellas
Megawatt Capacity: 227
Utility: Duke Energy Florida, LLC

    Bayboro
    Pinellas County
    227 MW

    Name: Stock Island
County: Monroe
Megawatt Capacity: 134
Utility: Utility Board of Key West City

    Stock Island
    Monroe County
    134 MW

    Name: Field Street
County: Volusia
Megawatt Capacity: 48
Utility: New Smyrna Beach Utilities Commission

    Field Street
    Volusia County
    48 MW

    Name: Marathon Generating Plant
County: Monroe
Megawatt Capacity: 25
Utility: Florida Keys El Coop Assn, Inc

    Marathon Generating Plant
    Monroe County
    25 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 16,000 megawatt (MW) [?] of wind power and 22,000 MW of solar power.

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

    Since Florida already has 0 MW of wind and 1,000 MW of solar, that's 16,000 MW of wind power we need to build and 20,000 MW of solar power. That's around 605 MW of wind power and 753 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 6% 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: 18%🔌 Power: 37%🚗 Transport: 42%🏠 Buildings: 3%

    Other Emissions

    🏭 Other: 18%🔌 Power: 37%🚗 Transport: 42%🏠 Buildings: 3%

    The last 18% of Florida'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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