New Jersey

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

Emissions in New Jersey

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

New Jersey's climate pollution, by source
🏭 Other: 17%🔌 Power: 14%🚗 Transport: 47%🏠 Buildings: 22%

Source: WRI, Mar 2021

    Decarbonize Our Buildings

    🏭 Other: 17%🔌 Power: 14%🚗 Transport: 47%🏠 Buildings: 22%

    22% of New Jersey'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 New Jersey's 2.6 million buildings.

    In fact, 19% of appliances in buildings in New Jersey are already fossil fuel free!

    That means we only need to electrify the remaining 2.1 million dirty buildings in New Jersey. That's around 77,000 per year.

    Percent of Buildings electrifiedA chart showing the share of Buildings that have already been electrified and still based in fossil fuel.18.52% have been electrified, and the remaining 81.48% are fossil fuel based.Buildings ElectrifiedNot yetSource: Microsoft, Mar 2021; NREL, Dec 2021

    Electrifying all buildings cuts 22% of the pollution.

    🏭 Other: 17%🔌 Power: 14%🚗 Transport: 47%🏠 Buildings: 22%

    Decarbonize Our Transport

    🏭 Other: 17%🔌 Power: 14%🚗 Transport: 47%🏠 Buildings: 22%

    47% of New Jersey'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 2.5 million vehicles in New Jersey and 30,000 are already electric (1.2% of the total).

    We need to electrify (or replace) the remaining 2.5 million gas-powered vehicles. That's around 93,000 a year.

    Percent of Vehicles electrifiedA chart showing the share of Vehicles that have already been electrified and still based in fossil fuel.1.2% have been electrified, and the remaining 98.8% are fossil fuel based.Vehicles ElectrifiedNot yetSource: DOT, Feb 2021

    Electrifying all transportation cuts 47% of the pollution.

    🏭 Other: 17%🔌 Power: 14%🚗 Transport: 47%🏠 Buildings: 22%

    Decarbonize Our Power

    🏭 Other: 17%🔌 Power: 14%🚗 Transport: 47%🏠 Buildings: 22%

    14% of New Jersey'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 New Jersey

    2 coal plants

    Name: Carneys Point County: Salem Megawatt Capacity: 285 Utility: US Operating Services Company

    Carneys Point
    Salem County
    285 MW

    Name: Logan Generating Plant County: Gloucester Megawatt Capacity: 242 Utility: Logan Generating Company LP

    Logan Generating Plant
    Gloucester County
    242 MW

    50 gas plants

    Name: Linden Generating Station County: Union Megawatt Capacity: 2,121 Utility: PSEG Fossil LLC

    Linden Generating Station
    Union County
    2,121 MW

    Name: Kearny Generating Station County: Hudson Megawatt Capacity: 1,426 Utility: PSEG Fossil LLC

    Kearny Generating Station
    Hudson County
    1,426 MW

    Name: Bergen Generating Station County: Bergen Megawatt Capacity: 1,419 Utility: PSEG Fossil LLC

    Bergen Generating Station
    Bergen County
    1,419 MW

    Name: Sewaren Generating Station County: Middlesex Megawatt Capacity: 1,177 Utility: PSEG Fossil LLC

    Sewaren Generating Station
    Middlesex County
    1,177 MW

    ...and 46 more

    6 oil plants

    Name: Sherman Avenue County: Cumberland Megawatt Capacity: 113 Utility: Calpine New Jersey Generation LLC

    Sherman Avenue
    Cumberland County
    113 MW

    Name: Forked River Power County: Ocean Megawatt Capacity: 77 Utility: Forked River Power, LLC

    Forked River Power
    Ocean County
    77 MW

    Name: West Station County: Cumberland Megawatt Capacity: 27 Utility: City of Vineland - (NJ)

    West Station
    Cumberland County
    27 MW

    Name: Haworth Water Treatment Plant County: Bergen Megawatt Capacity: 16 Utility: EPP Renewable Energy

    Haworth Water Treatment Plant
    Bergen County
    16 MW

    Name: Bayville Central Facility County: Ocean Megawatt Capacity: 8 Utility: Ocean County Utilities Auth

    Bayville Central Facility
    Ocean County
    8 MW

    Name: Overlook Medical Center County: Union Megawatt Capacity: 4 Utility: Overlook Medical Center

    Overlook Medical Center
    Union County
    4 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, New Jersey would need to install about 3,000 turbines.

    Since New Jersey already has 2 MW of wind and 481 MW of solar, that's 7,000 MW of wind power we need to build and 6,000 MW of solar power. That's around 266 MW of wind power and 219 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 8% 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 14% of the pollution.

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

    🏭 Other: 17%🔌 Power: 14%🚗 Transport: 47%🏠 Buildings: 22%

    Other Emissions

    🏭 Other: 17%🔌 Power: 14%🚗 Transport: 47%🏠 Buildings: 22%

    The last 17% of New Jersey'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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