Wisconsin

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

Emissions in Wisconsin

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

Wisconsin's climate pollution, by source
🏭 Other: 32%🔌 Power: 30%🚗 Transport: 24%🏠 Buildings: 13%

Source: WRI, Mar 2021

    Decarbonize Our Buildings

    🏭 Other: 32%🔌 Power: 30%🚗 Transport: 24%🏠 Buildings: 13%

    13% of Wisconsin'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 Wisconsin's 3.2 million buildings.

    In fact, 23% of appliances in buildings in Wisconsin are already fossil fuel free!

    That means we only need to electrify the remaining 2.5 million dirty buildings in Wisconsin. That's around 91,000 per year.

    Percent of Buildings electrifiedA chart showing the share of Buildings that have already been electrified and still based in fossil fuel.22.66% have been electrified, and the remaining 77.34% 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: 24%🏠 Buildings: 13%

    Decarbonize Our Transport

    🏭 Other: 32%🔌 Power: 30%🚗 Transport: 24%🏠 Buildings: 13%

    24% of Wisconsin'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 1.9 million vehicles in Wisconsin and 6,000 are already electric (0.3% of the total).

    We need to electrify (or replace) the remaining 1.9 million gas-powered vehicles. That's around 70,000 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 24% of the pollution.

    🏭 Other: 32%🔌 Power: 30%🚗 Transport: 24%🏠 Buildings: 13%

    Decarbonize Our Power

    🏭 Other: 32%🔌 Power: 30%🚗 Transport: 24%🏠 Buildings: 13%

    30% of Wisconsin'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 Wisconsin

    9 coal plants

    Name: Elm Road Generating Station County: Milwaukee Megawatt Capacity: 1,403 Utility: Wisconsin Electric Power Co

    Elm Road Generating Station
    Milwaukee County
    1,403 MW

    Name: South Oak Creek County: Milwaukee Megawatt Capacity: 1,260 Utility: Wisconsin Electric Power Co

    South Oak Creek
    Milwaukee County
    1,260 MW

    Name: Weston County: Marathon Megawatt Capacity: 1,163 Utility: Wisconsin Public Service Corp

    Weston
    Marathon County
    1,163 MW

    Name: Columbia County: Columbia Megawatt Capacity: 1,112 Utility: Wisconsin Power & Light Co

    Columbia
    Columbia County
    1,112 MW

    Name: Edgewater (4050) County: Sheboygan Megawatt Capacity: 834 Utility: Wisconsin Power & Light Co

    Edgewater (4050)
    Sheboygan County
    834 MW

    Name: J P Madgett County: Buffalo Megawatt Capacity: 387 Utility: Dairyland Power Coop

    J P Madgett
    Buffalo County
    387 MW

    Name: Genoa County: Vernon Megawatt Capacity: 346 Utility: Dairyland Power Coop

    Genoa
    Vernon County
    346 MW

    Name: Biron Mill County: Wood Megawatt Capacity: 62 Utility: ND Paper, Inc.

    Biron Mill
    Wood County
    62 MW

    Name: Kaukauna Paper Mill County: Outagamie Megawatt Capacity: 45 Utility: Thilmany LLC

    Kaukauna Paper Mill
    Outagamie County
    45 MW

    35 gas plants

    Name: Port Washington Generating Station County: Ozaukee Megawatt Capacity: 1,548 Utility: Wisconsin Electric Power Co

    Port Washington Generating Station
    Ozaukee County
    1,548 MW

    Name: Riverside Energy Center County: Rock Megawatt Capacity: 1,402 Utility: Wisconsin Power & Light Co

    Riverside Energy Center
    Rock County
    1,402 MW

    Name: Pulliam County: Brown Megawatt Capacity: 671 Utility: Wisconsin Public Service Corp

    Pulliam
    Brown County
    671 MW

    Name: Fox Energy Center County: Outagamie Megawatt Capacity: 619 Utility: Wisconsin Public Service Corp

    Fox Energy Center
    Outagamie County
    619 MW

    ...and 31 more

    12 oil plants

    Name: Manitowoc County: Manitowoc Megawatt Capacity: 213 Utility: Manitowoc Public Utilities

    Manitowoc
    Manitowoc County
    213 MW

    Name: Diesel Generators County: Dane Megawatt Capacity: 54 Utility: Madison Gas & Electric Co

    Diesel Generators
    Dane County
    54 MW

    Name: Cumberland (WI) County: Barron Megawatt Capacity: 22 Utility: City of Cumberland - (WI)

    Cumberland (WI)
    Barron County
    22 MW

    Name: New Lisbon County: Juneau Megawatt Capacity: 9 Utility: City of New Lisbon

    New Lisbon
    Juneau County
    9 MW

    Name: Fennimore County: Grant Megawatt Capacity: 7 Utility: City of Fennimore - (WI)

    Fennimore
    Grant County
    7 MW

    Name: Elroy County: Juneau Megawatt Capacity: 7 Utility: City of Elroy - (WI)

    Elroy
    Juneau County
    7 MW

    Name: Grantsburg Diesel County: Burnett Megawatt Capacity: 6 Utility: Northwestern Wisconsin Elec Co

    Grantsburg Diesel
    Burnett County
    6 MW

    Name: Winter County: Sawyer Megawatt Capacity: 6 Utility: North Central Power Co Inc

    Winter
    Sawyer County
    6 MW

    Name: Washington Island County: Door Megawatt Capacity: 5 Utility: Washington Island El Coop, Inc

    Washington Island
    Door County
    5 MW

    Name: Argyle County: Lafayette Megawatt Capacity: 5 Utility: City of Argyle - (WI)

    Argyle
    Lafayette County
    5 MW

    Name: Marathon Electric County: Marathon Megawatt Capacity: 3 Utility: Marathon Electric Mfg Corp

    Marathon Electric
    Marathon County
    3 MW

    Name: WPPI Hartford DG County: Washington Megawatt Capacity: 1 Utility: WPPI Energy

    WPPI Hartford DG
    Washington County
    1 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 8,000 megawatt (MW) [?] of wind power and 7,000 MW of solar power.

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

    Since Wisconsin already has 184 MW of wind and 66 MW of solar, that's 8,000 MW of wind power we need to build and 7,000 MW of solar power. That's around 279 MW of wind power and 264 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: 24%🏠 Buildings: 13%

    Other Emissions

    🏭 Other: 32%🔌 Power: 30%🚗 Transport: 24%🏠 Buildings: 13%

    The last 32% of Wisconsin'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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