Rhode Island

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

Emissions in Rhode Island

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

Rhode Island's climate pollution, by source
🏭 Other: 14%🔌 Power: 26%🚗 Transport: 34%🏠 Buildings: 27%

Source: WRI, Mar 2021

    Decarbonize Our Buildings

    🏭 Other: 14%🔌 Power: 26%🚗 Transport: 34%🏠 Buildings: 27%

    27% of Rhode Island'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 Rhode Island's 393,000 buildings.

    In fact, 21% of appliances in buildings in Rhode Island are already fossil fuel free!

    That means we only need to electrify the remaining 311,000 dirty buildings in Rhode Island. That's around 12,000 per year.

    Percent of Buildings electrifiedA chart showing the share of Buildings that have already been electrified and still based in fossil fuel.20.79% have been electrified, and the remaining 79.21% are fossil fuel based.Buildings ElectrifiedNot yetSource: Microsoft, Mar 2021; NREL, Dec 2021

    Electrifying all buildings cuts 27% of the pollution.

    🏭 Other: 14%🔌 Power: 26%🚗 Transport: 34%🏠 Buildings: 27%

    Decarbonize Our Transport

    🏭 Other: 14%🔌 Power: 26%🚗 Transport: 34%🏠 Buildings: 27%

    34% of Rhode Island'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 382,000 vehicles in Rhode Island and 2,000 are already electric (0.4% of the total).

    We need to electrify (or replace) the remaining 380,000 gas-powered vehicles. That's around 14,000 a year.

    Percent of Vehicles electrifiedA chart showing the share of Vehicles that have already been electrified and still based in fossil fuel.0.4% have been electrified, and the remaining 99.6% are fossil fuel based.Vehicles ElectrifiedNot yetSource: DOT, Feb 2021

    Electrifying all transportation cuts 34% of the pollution.

    🏭 Other: 14%🔌 Power: 26%🚗 Transport: 34%🏠 Buildings: 27%

    Decarbonize Our Power

    🏭 Other: 14%🔌 Power: 26%🚗 Transport: 34%🏠 Buildings: 27%

    26% of Rhode Island'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 Rhode Island

    9 gas plants

    Name: Rhode Island State Energy Center County: Providence Megawatt Capacity: 596 Utility: RISEC Operating Services

    Rhode Island State Energy Center
    Providence County
    596 MW

    Name: Tiverton Power, LLC County: Newport Megawatt Capacity: 545 Utility: Tiverton Power LLC

    Tiverton Power, LLC
    Newport County
    545 MW

    Name: Manchester Street Station County: Providence Megawatt Capacity: 515 Utility: Manchester Street, LLC.

    Manchester Street Station
    Providence County
    515 MW

    Name: Ocean State Power County: Providence Megawatt Capacity: 254 Utility: Ocean State Power Co

    Ocean State Power
    Providence County
    254 MW

    Name: Ocean State Power II County: Providence Megawatt Capacity: 254 Utility: Ocean State Power II

    Ocean State Power II
    Providence County
    254 MW

    Name: Pawtucket Power Associates, LP County: Providence Megawatt Capacity: 69 Utility: Pawtucket Power Associates LP

    Pawtucket Power Associates, LP
    Providence County
    69 MW

    Name: Toray Plastic America's CHP Plant County: Washington Megawatt Capacity: 20 Utility: Toray Plastics America

    Toray Plastic America's CHP Plant
    Washington County
    20 MW

    Name: Central Power Plant County: Providence Megawatt Capacity: 14 Utility: State of Rhode Island

    Central Power Plant
    Providence County
    14 MW

    Name: Rhode Island Hospital County: Providence Megawatt Capacity: 10 Utility: Rhode Island Hospital

    Rhode Island Hospital
    Providence County
    10 MW

    1 oil plant

    Name: Block Island County: Washington Megawatt Capacity: 14 Utility: Block Island Utility District

    Block Island
    Washington County
    14 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 1,000 megawatt (MW) [?] of wind power and 1,000 MW of solar power.

    Since the average wind turbine provides 2.75 MW of peak capacity, Rhode Island would need to install about 409 turbines.

    Since Rhode Island already has 0 MW of wind and 0 MW of solar, that's 1,000 MW of wind power we need to build and 1,000 MW of solar power. That's around 42 MW of wind power and 38 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 0% 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 26% of the pollution.

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

    🏭 Other: 14%🔌 Power: 26%🚗 Transport: 34%🏠 Buildings: 27%

    Other Emissions

    🏭 Other: 14%🔌 Power: 26%🚗 Transport: 34%🏠 Buildings: 27%

    The last 14% of Rhode Island'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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