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

Emissions in Ohio

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


Ohio's climate pollution, by source
🏭 Other: 32%🔌 Power: 30%🚗 Transport: 25%🏠 Buildings: 13%

Source: WRI, Mar 2021

    Decarbonize Our Buildings

    🏭 Other: 32%🔌 Power: 30%🚗 Transport: 25%🏠 Buildings: 13%

    13% of Ohio'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 Ohio's 5.5 million buildings.

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

    That means we only need to electrify the remaining 4.1 million dirty buildings in Ohio. That's around 150,000 per year.

    Percent of Buildings electrifiedA chart showing the share of Buildings that have already been electrified and still based in fossil fuel.26.76% have been electrified, and the remaining 73.24% are fossil fuel based.Buildings ElectrifiedNot yetSource: Microsoft, Mar 2021; NREL, Dec 2021

    Electrifying all buildings cuts 13% of the pollution.

    🏭 Other: 32%🔌 Power: 30%🚗 Transport: 25%🏠 Buildings: 13%

    Decarbonize Our Transport

    🏭 Other: 32%🔌 Power: 30%🚗 Transport: 25%🏠 Buildings: 13%

    25% of Ohio'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 4.2 million vehicles in Ohio and 15,000 are already electric (0.3% of the total).

    We need to electrify (or replace) the remaining 4.2 million gas-powered vehicles. That's around 157,000 a year.

    Percent of Vehicles electrifiedA chart showing the share of Vehicles that have already been electrified and still based in fossil fuel.0.3% have been electrified, and the remaining 99.7% are fossil fuel based.Vehicles ElectrifiedNot yetSource: DOT, Feb 2021

    Electrifying all transportation cuts 25% of the pollution.

    🏭 Other: 32%🔌 Power: 30%🚗 Transport: 25%🏠 Buildings: 13%

    Decarbonize Our Power

    🏭 Other: 32%🔌 Power: 30%🚗 Transport: 25%🏠 Buildings: 13%

    30% of Ohio'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 Ohio

    15 coal plants

    Name: Gen J M Gavin
County: Gallia
Megawatt Capacity: 2,600
Utility: Gavin Power, LLC

    Gen J M Gavin
    Gallia County
    2,600 MW

    Name: W H Sammis
County: Jefferson
Megawatt Capacity: 2,468
Utility: FirstEnergy Generation Corp

    W H Sammis
    Jefferson County
    2,468 MW

    Name: Conesville
County: Coshocton
Megawatt Capacity: 2,175
Utility: AEP Generation Resources Inc

    Conesville
    Coshocton County
    2,175 MW

    Name: Cardinal
County: Jefferson
Megawatt Capacity: 1,880
Utility: Cardinal Operating Company

    Cardinal
    Jefferson County
    1,880 MW

    ...and 11 more

    39 gas plants

    Name: Dynegy Hanging Rock II, LLC
County: Lawrence
Megawatt Capacity: 1,430
Utility: Dynegy Hanging Rock Energy Facility

    Dynegy Hanging Rock II, LLC
    Lawrence County
    1,430 MW

    Name: Oregon Clean Energy Center
County: Lucas
Megawatt Capacity: 1,062
Utility: Oregon Clean Energy Center

    Oregon Clean Energy Center
    Lucas County
    1,062 MW

    Name: Rolling Hills Generating LLC
County: Vinton
Megawatt Capacity: 978
Utility: Rolling Hills Generating LLC

    Rolling Hills Generating LLC
    Vinton County
    978 MW

    Name: Clean Energy Future - Lordstown, LLC
County: Trumbull
Megawatt Capacity: 962
Utility: Clean Energy Future-Lordstown, LLC

    Clean Energy Future - Lordstown, LLC
    Trumbull County
    962 MW

    ...and 35 more

    36 oil plants

    Name: Eastlake
County: Lake
Megawatt Capacity: 1,289
Utility: FirstEnergy Generation Corp

    Eastlake
    Lake County
    1,289 MW

    Name: Bay Shore
County: Lucas
Megawatt Capacity: 665
Utility: Walleye Power, LLC

    Bay Shore
    Lucas County
    665 MW

    Name: West Lorain
County: Lorain
Megawatt Capacity: 556
Utility: Vermillion Power LLC

    West Lorain
    Lorain County
    556 MW

    Name: Niles
County: Trumbull
Megawatt Capacity: 293
Utility: Niles Power, LLC

    Niles
    Trumbull County
    293 MW

    ...and 32 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 13,000 megawatt (MW) [?] of wind power and 13,000 MW of solar power.

    Since the average wind turbine provides 2.75 MW of peak capacity, Ohio would need to install about 5,000 turbines.

    Since Ohio already has 296 MW of wind and 107 MW of solar, that's 13,000 MW of wind power we need to build and 13,000 MW of solar power. That's around 483 MW of wind power and 485 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 30% of the pollution.

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

    🏭 Other: 32%🔌 Power: 30%🚗 Transport: 25%🏠 Buildings: 13%

    Other Emissions

    🏭 Other: 32%🔌 Power: 30%🚗 Transport: 25%🏠 Buildings: 13%

    The last 32% of Ohio'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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