Virginia

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

Emissions in Virginia

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

Virginia's climate pollution, by source
🏭 Other: 27%🔌 Power: 24%🚗 Transport: 39%🏠 Buildings: 10%

Source: WRI, Mar 2021

    Decarbonize Our Buildings

    🏭 Other: 27%🔌 Power: 24%🚗 Transport: 39%🏠 Buildings: 10%

    10% of Virginia'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 Virginia's 3.1 million buildings.

    In fact, 55% of appliances in buildings in Virginia are already fossil fuel free!

    That means we only need to electrify the remaining 1.4 million dirty buildings in Virginia. That's around 51,000 per year.

    Percent of Buildings electrifiedA chart showing the share of Buildings that have already been electrified and still based in fossil fuel.55.23% have been electrified, and the remaining 44.77% are fossil fuel based.Buildings ElectrifiedNot yetSource: Microsoft, Mar 2021; NREL, Dec 2021

    Electrifying all buildings cuts 10% of the pollution.

    🏭 Other: 27%🔌 Power: 24%🚗 Transport: 39%🏠 Buildings: 10%

    Decarbonize Our Transport

    🏭 Other: 27%🔌 Power: 24%🚗 Transport: 39%🏠 Buildings: 10%

    39% of Virginia'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 3.1 million vehicles in Virginia and 21,000 are already electric (0.7% of the total).

    We need to electrify (or replace) the remaining 3.0 million gas-powered vehicles. That's around 112,000 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 39% of the pollution.

    🏭 Other: 27%🔌 Power: 24%🚗 Transport: 39%🏠 Buildings: 10%

    Decarbonize Our Power

    🏭 Other: 27%🔌 Power: 24%🚗 Transport: 39%🏠 Buildings: 10%

    24% of Virginia'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 Virginia

    6 coal plants

    Name: Clover Power Station County: Halifax Megawatt Capacity: 848 Utility: Virginia Electric & Power Co

    Clover Power Station
    Halifax County
    848 MW

    Name: Virginia City Hybrid Energy Center County: Wise Megawatt Capacity: 668 Utility: Virginia Electric & Power Co

    Virginia City Hybrid Energy Center
    Wise County
    668 MW

    Name: Birchwood Power Facility County: King George Megawatt Capacity: 258 Utility: Birchwood Power Partners LP

    Birchwood Power Facility
    King George County
    258 MW

    Name: Spruance Genco, LLC County: Richmond City Megawatt Capacity: 230 Utility: Veolia Energy Operating Service

    Spruance Genco, LLC
    Richmond City County
    230 MW

    Name: City Point Energy Center County: Hopewell City Megawatt Capacity: 115 Utility: City Point Energy Center

    City Point Energy Center
    Hopewell City County
    115 MW

    Name: RockTenn West Point Mill County: King William Megawatt Capacity: 101 Utility: WestRock-West Point Mill

    RockTenn West Point Mill
    King William County
    101 MW

    28 gas plants

    Name: Possum Point Power Station County: Prince William Megawatt Capacity: 2,082 Utility: Virginia Electric & Power Co

    Possum Point Power Station
    Prince William County
    2,082 MW

    Name: Chesterfield Power Station County: Chesterfield Megawatt Capacity: 1,800 Utility: Virginia Electric & Power Co

    Chesterfield Power Station
    Chesterfield County
    1,800 MW

    Name: Greensville County Power Station County: Greensville Megawatt Capacity: 1,773 Utility: Virginia Electric & Power Co

    Greensville County Power Station
    Greensville County
    1,773 MW

    Name: Warren County Power Station County: Warren Megawatt Capacity: 1,472 Utility: Virginia Electric & Power Co

    Warren County Power Station
    Warren County
    1,472 MW

    ...and 24 more

    33 oil plants

    Name: Yorktown Power Station County: York Megawatt Capacity: 1,257 Utility: Virginia Electric & Power Co

    Yorktown Power Station
    York County
    1,257 MW

    Name: Chesapeake County: Chesapeake City Megawatt Capacity: 812 Utility: Virginia Electric & Power Co

    Chesapeake
    Chesapeake City County
    812 MW

    Name: Commonwealth Chesapeake County: Accomack Megawatt Capacity: 403 Utility: Commonwealth Chesapeake Co LLC

    Commonwealth Chesapeake
    Accomack County
    403 MW

    Name: Low Moor County: Alleghany Megawatt Capacity: 83 Utility: Virginia Electric & Power Co

    Low Moor
    Alleghany County
    83 MW

    ...and 29 more

    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 8,000 megawatt (MW) [?] of wind power and 9,000 MW of solar power.

    Since the average wind turbine provides 2.75 MW of peak capacity, Virginia would need to install about 3,000 turbines.

    Since Virginia already has 6 MW of wind and 420 MW of solar, that's 8,000 MW of wind power we need to build and 8,000 MW of solar power. That's around 309 MW of wind power and 303 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 5% 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 24% of the pollution.

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

    🏭 Other: 27%🔌 Power: 24%🚗 Transport: 39%🏠 Buildings: 10%

    Other Emissions

    🏭 Other: 27%🔌 Power: 24%🚗 Transport: 39%🏠 Buildings: 10%

    The last 27% of Virginia'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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