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

Emissions in Texas

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

Texas's climate pollution, by source
🏭 Other: 47%🔌 Power: 22%🚗 Transport: 27%🏠 Buildings: 3%

Source: WRI, Mar 2021

    Decarbonize Our Buildings

    🏭 Other: 47%🔌 Power: 22%🚗 Transport: 27%🏠 Buildings: 3%

    3% of Texas'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 Texas's 10.7 million buildings.

    In fact, 56.7% of appliances in buildings in Texas are already fossil fuel free!

    That means we only need to electrify the remaining 4.6 million dirty buildings in Texas. That's around 171,000 per year.

    Percent of Appliances Electrified electrifiedA chart showing the share of Appliances Electrified that have already been electrified and still based in fossil fuel.56.66% have been electrified, and the remaining 43.34% are fossil fuel based.Appliances Electrified: 56.7%Needed This Year: 1.6%Not Yet: 41.7%Source: Microsoft, Mar 2021; NREL, Dec 2021

    Electrifying all buildings cuts 3% of the pollution.

    🏭 Other: 47%🔌 Power: 22%🚗 Transport: 27%🏠 Buildings: 3%

    Decarbonize Our Transport

    🏭 Other: 47%🔌 Power: 22%🚗 Transport: 27%🏠 Buildings: 3%

    27% of Texas'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 8.1 million vehicles in Texas and 52,000 are already electric (0.6% of the total).

    We need to electrify (or replace) the remaining 8.0 million gas-powered vehicles. That's around 297,000 a year.

    Percent of Vehicles Electrified electrifiedA chart showing the share of Vehicles Electrified that have already been electrified and still based in fossil fuel.0.6% have been electrified, and the remaining 99.4% are fossil fuel based.Vehicles Electrified: 0.6%Needed This Year: 3.7%Not Yet: 95.7%Source: DOT, Feb 2021

    Electrifying all transportation cuts 27% of the pollution.

    🏭 Other: 47%🔌 Power: 22%🚗 Transport: 27%🏠 Buildings: 3%

    Decarbonize Our Power

    🏭 Other: 47%🔌 Power: 22%🚗 Transport: 27%🏠 Buildings: 3%

    22% of Texas's pollution comes from burning coal, gas, and oil to make power.

    Dirty power plant

    That's because of how power is generated in Texas today.

    Power Generation in the State of Texas (2020)

    But there's already 31% carbon-free electricity generation in Texas!

    To clean up the emissions from the polluting power plants we need to 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 Texas

    16 coal plants

    Name: W A Parish County: Fort Bend Megawatt Capacity: 4,008 Utility: NRG Texas Power LLC

    W A Parish
    Fort Bend County
    4,008 MW

    Name: Oak Grove County: Robertson Megawatt Capacity: 3,397 Utility: Luminant Generation Company LLC

    Oak Grove
    Robertson County
    3,397 MW

    Name: Martin Lake County: Rusk Megawatt Capacity: 3,180 Utility: Luminant Generation Company LLC

    Martin Lake
    Rusk County
    3,180 MW

    Name: Limestone County: Limestone Megawatt Capacity: 1,850 Utility: NRG Texas Power LLC

    Limestone
    Limestone County
    1,850 MW

    ...and 12 more

    159 gas plants

    Name: Cedar Bayou County: Chambers Megawatt Capacity: 2,295 Utility: NRG Texas Power LLC

    Cedar Bayou
    Chambers County
    2,295 MW

    Name: Morgan Creek County: Mitchell Megawatt Capacity: 2,164 Utility: Luminant Generation Company LLC

    Morgan Creek
    Mitchell County
    2,164 MW

    Name: Sabine County: Orange Megawatt Capacity: 2,051 Utility: Entergy Texas Inc.

    Sabine
    Orange County
    2,051 MW

    Name: Forney Power Plant County: Kaufman Megawatt Capacity: 1,894 Utility: LaFrontera Holdings LLC

    Forney Power Plant
    Kaufman County
    1,894 MW

    ...and 155 more

    6 oil plants

    Name: Valero Refinery Corpus Christi West County: Nueces Megawatt Capacity: 77 Utility: Valero Refining Co

    Valero Refinery Corpus Christi West
    Nueces County
    77 MW

    Name: State Farm Insur Support Center Central County: Dallas Megawatt Capacity: 11 Utility: State Farm Mutual Auto Ins Co

    State Farm Insur Support Center Central
    Dallas County
    11 MW

    Name: Seadrift Coke LP County: Calhoun Megawatt Capacity: 8 Utility: Seadrift Coke L P

    Seadrift Coke LP
    Calhoun County
    8 MW

    Name: Works 4 County: Wichita Megawatt Capacity: 6 Utility: Vitro Architectural Glass

    Works 4
    Wichita County
    6 MW

    Name: PRSI FCC Generator County: Harris Megawatt Capacity: 5 Utility: Pasadena Refining System Inc

    PRSI FCC Generator
    Harris County
    5 MW

    Name: Tenet Hospital County: El Paso Megawatt Capacity: 4 Utility: Tenet Hospital Ltd

    Tenet Hospital
    El Paso County
    4 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 29,000 megawatt (MW)  of wind power and 35,000 MW of solar power.

    Since the average wind turbine provides 2.75 MW of peak capacity, Texas would need to install about 10,000 turbines.

    Since Texas already has 11,000 MW of wind and 2,000 MW of solar, that's 17,000 MW of wind power we need to build and 33,000 MW of solar power. That's around 637 MW of wind power and 1,000 MW of solar power a year.

    Percent of MWs of Wind and Solar Built electrifiedA chart showing the share of MWs of Wind and Solar Built that have already been electrified and still based in fossil fuel.25% have been electrified, and the remaining 75% are fossil fuel based.MWs of Wind and Solar Built: 25.0%Needed This Year: 2.8%Not Yet: 72.2%

    Source: EIA, Apr 2022

    Decarbonizing all dirty power cuts 22% of the pollution.

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

    🏭 Other: 47%🔌 Power: 22%🚗 Transport: 27%🏠 Buildings: 3%

    Other Emissions

    🏭 Other: 47%🔌 Power: 22%🚗 Transport: 27%🏠 Buildings: 3%

    The last 47% of Texas'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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