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

Emissions in Wyoming

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


Wyoming's climate pollution, by source
🏭 Other: 44%🔌 Power: 45%🚗 Transport: 9%🏠 Buildings: 2%

Source: WRI, Mar 2021

    Decarbonize Our Buildings

    🏭 Other: 44%🔌 Power: 45%🚗 Transport: 9%🏠 Buildings: 2%

    2% of Wyoming'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 Wyoming's 387,000 buildings.

    In fact, 30% of appliances in buildings in Wyoming are already fossil fuel free!

    That means we only need to electrify the remaining 271,000 dirty buildings in Wyoming. That's around 10,000 per year.

    Percent of Buildings electrifiedA chart showing the share of Buildings that have already been electrified and still based in fossil fuel.29.91% have been electrified, and the remaining 70.09% are fossil fuel based.Buildings ElectrifiedNot yetSource: Microsoft, Mar 2021; NREL, Dec 2021

    Electrifying all buildings cuts 2% of the pollution.

    🏭 Other: 44%🔌 Power: 45%🚗 Transport: 9%🏠 Buildings: 2%

    Decarbonize Our Transport

    🏭 Other: 44%🔌 Power: 45%🚗 Transport: 9%🏠 Buildings: 2%

    9% of Wyoming'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 191,000 vehicles in Wyoming and 330 are already electric (0.2% of the total).

    We need to electrify (or replace) the remaining 191,000 gas-powered vehicles. That's around 7,000 a year.

    Percent of Vehicles electrifiedA chart showing the share of Vehicles that have already been electrified and still based in fossil fuel.0.2% have been electrified, and the remaining 99.8% are fossil fuel based.Vehicles ElectrifiedNot yetSource: DOT, Feb 2021

    Electrifying all transportation cuts 9% of the pollution.

    🏭 Other: 44%🔌 Power: 45%🚗 Transport: 9%🏠 Buildings: 2%

    Decarbonize Our Power

    🏭 Other: 44%🔌 Power: 45%🚗 Transport: 9%🏠 Buildings: 2%

    45% of Wyoming'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 Wyoming

    12 coal plants

    Name: Jim Bridger
County: Sweetwater
Megawatt Capacity: 2,442
Utility: PacifiCorp

    Jim Bridger
    Sweetwater County
    2,442 MW

    Name: Laramie River
County: Platte
Megawatt Capacity: 1,710
Utility: Basin Electric Power Coop

    Laramie River
    Platte County
    1,710 MW

    Name: Dave Johnston
County: Converse
Megawatt Capacity: 922
Utility: PacifiCorp

    Dave Johnston
    Converse County
    922 MW

    Name: Naughton
County: Lincoln
Megawatt Capacity: 832
Utility: PacifiCorp

    Naughton
    Lincoln County
    832 MW

    Name: Dry Fork Station
County: Campbell
Megawatt Capacity: 484
Utility: Basin Electric Power Coop

    Dry Fork Station
    Campbell County
    484 MW

    Name: Wyodak
County: Campbell
Megawatt Capacity: 402
Utility: PacifiCorp

    Wyodak
    Campbell County
    402 MW

    Name: Neil Simpson II
County: Campbell
Megawatt Capacity: 130
Utility: Black Hills Power, Inc. d/b/a

    Neil Simpson II
    Campbell County
    130 MW

    Name: Wygen III
County: Campbell
Megawatt Capacity: 116
Utility: Black Hills Power, Inc. d/b/a

    Wygen III
    Campbell County
    116 MW

    Name: Wygen II
County: Campbell
Megawatt Capacity: 95
Utility: Black Hills Power, Inc. d/b/a

    Wygen II
    Campbell County
    95 MW

    Name: Wygen I
County: Campbell
Megawatt Capacity: 90
Utility: Black Hills Power, Inc. d/b/a

    Wygen I
    Campbell County
    90 MW

    Name: Genesis Alkali
County: Sweetwater
Megawatt Capacity: 41
Utility: Genesis Alkali, LLC

    Genesis Alkali
    Sweetwater County
    41 MW

    Name: General Chemical
County: Sweetwater
Megawatt Capacity: 30
Utility: Tata Chemicals Partners

    General Chemical
    Sweetwater County
    30 MW

    7 gas plants

    Name: Cheyenne Prairie Generating Station
County: Laramie
Megawatt Capacity: 220
Utility: Black Hills Service Company LLC

    Cheyenne Prairie Generating Station
    Laramie County
    220 MW

    Name: Neil Simpson II (CT2)
County: Campbell
Megawatt Capacity: 40
Utility: Black Hills Power, Inc. d/b/a

    Neil Simpson II (CT2)
    Campbell County
    40 MW

    Name: Hartzog
County: Campbell
Megawatt Capacity: 23
Utility: Basin Electric Power Coop

    Hartzog
    Campbell County
    23 MW

    Name: Arvada
County: Sheridan
Megawatt Capacity: 23
Utility: Basin Electric Power Coop

    Arvada
    Sheridan County
    23 MW

    Name: Barber Creek
County: Campbell
Megawatt Capacity: 23
Utility: Basin Electric Power Coop

    Barber Creek
    Campbell County
    23 MW

    Name: Big Sand Draw Plant
County: Fremont
Megawatt Capacity: 8
Utility: Devon Energy Production Co

    Big Sand Draw Plant
    Fremont County
    8 MW

    Name: Beaver Creek Gas Plant
County: Fremont
Megawatt Capacity: 6
Utility: Devon Energy Production Co

    Beaver Creek Gas Plant
    Fremont County
    6 MW

    2 oil plants

    Name: Lake (WY)
County: Teton
Megawatt Capacity: 3
Utility: NorthWestern Energy

    Lake (WY)
    Teton County
    3 MW

    Name: Old Faithful
County: Teton
Megawatt Capacity: 2
Utility: NorthWestern Energy

    Old Faithful
    Teton County
    2 MW

    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 2,000 megawatt (MW) [?] of wind power and 3,000 MW of solar power.

    Since the average wind turbine provides 2.75 MW of peak capacity, Wyoming would need to install about 788 turbines.

    Since Wyoming already has 964 MW of wind and 22 MW of solar, that's 1,000 MW of wind power we need to build and 3,000 MW of solar power. That's around 45 MW of wind power and 98 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 23.5% 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 45% of the pollution.

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

    🏭 Other: 44%🔌 Power: 45%🚗 Transport: 9%🏠 Buildings: 2%

    Other Emissions

    🏭 Other: 44%🔌 Power: 45%🚗 Transport: 9%🏠 Buildings: 2%

    The last 44% of Wyoming'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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