Oregon

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To get to zero by 2050, Oregon must cut climate pollution by
1.9 million metric tons of CO2 equivalent a year.

Emissions in Oregon

Million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent (MMTCO2e) emissions

Note: Grey area indicates missing data due to processing delays.
Source: WRI, Mar 2021

This is how we're going to do it.

Oregon's climate pollution, by source
🏭 Other: 33%🔌 Power: 16%🚗 Transport: 41%🏠 Buildings: 10%

Source: WRI, Mar 2021

    Decarbonize Our Buildings

    🏭 Other: 33%🔌 Power: 16%🚗 Transport: 41%🏠 Buildings: 10%

    10% of Oregon'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...

    ...in all of Oregon's 1.9 million buildings.

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

    That means we only need to electrify the remaining 844,000 dirty buildings in Oregon. That's around 30,000 per year.

    Percent of Buildings electrifiedA chart showing the share of Buildings that have already been electrified and still based in fossil fuel.54.98% have been electrified, and the remaining 45.02% are fossil fuel based.Buildings ElectrifiedNot yetSource: Microsoft, Mar 2021; NREL, Dec 2021

    Electrifying all buildings cuts 10% of the pollution.

    🏭 Other: 33%🔌 Power: 16%🚗 Transport: 41%🏠 Buildings: 10%

    Decarbonize Our Transport

    🏭 Other: 33%🔌 Power: 16%🚗 Transport: 41%🏠 Buildings: 10%

    41% of Oregon'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 1.4 million vehicles in Oregon and 23,000 are already electric (1.6% of the total).

    We need to electrify (or replace) the remaining 1.4 million gas-powered vehicles. That's around 51,000 a year.

    Percent of Vehicles electrifiedA chart showing the share of Vehicles that have already been electrified and still based in fossil fuel.1.6% have been electrified, and the remaining 98.4% are fossil fuel based.Vehicles ElectrifiedNot yetSource: DOT, Feb 2021

    Electrifying all transportation cuts 41% of the pollution.

    🏭 Other: 33%🔌 Power: 16%🚗 Transport: 41%🏠 Buildings: 10%

    Decarbonize Our Power

    🏭 Other: 33%🔌 Power: 16%🚗 Transport: 41%🏠 Buildings: 10%

    16% of Oregon'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 Oregon

    1 coal plant

    Name: Boardman County: Morrow Megawatt Capacity: 642 Utility: Portland General Electric Co

    Boardman
    Morrow County
    642 MW

    12 gas plants

    Name: Hermiston Power Plant County: Umatilla Megawatt Capacity: 689 Utility: Hermiston Power Partnership

    Hermiston Power Plant
    Umatilla County
    689 MW

    Name: Hermiston County: Umatilla Megawatt Capacity: 621 Utility: Hermiston Generating Co LP

    Hermiston
    Umatilla County
    621 MW

    Name: Beaver County: Columbia Megawatt Capacity: 611 Utility: Portland General Electric Co

    Beaver
    Columbia County
    611 MW

    Name: Klamath Cogeneration Project County: Klamath Megawatt Capacity: 502 Utility: Klamath Energy LLC

    Klamath Cogeneration Project
    Klamath County
    502 MW

    Name: Carty Generating Station County: Morrow Megawatt Capacity: 500 Utility: Portland General Electric Co

    Carty Generating Station
    Morrow County
    500 MW

    Name: Port Westward County: Columbia Megawatt Capacity: 483 Utility: Portland General Electric Co

    Port Westward
    Columbia County
    483 MW

    Name: Coyote Springs County: Morrow Megawatt Capacity: 296 Utility: Portland General Electric Co

    Coyote Springs
    Morrow County
    296 MW

    Name: Coyote Springs II County: Morrow Megawatt Capacity: 287 Utility: Avista Corp

    Coyote Springs II
    Morrow County
    287 MW

    Name: Port Westward Unit 2 County: Columbia Megawatt Capacity: 226 Utility: Portland General Electric Co

    Port Westward Unit 2
    Columbia County
    226 MW

    Name: Klamath Generation Peakers County: Klamath Megawatt Capacity: 118 Utility: Klamath Energy LLC

    Klamath Generation Peakers
    Klamath County
    118 MW

    Name: Univ of Oregon Central Power Station County: Lane Megawatt Capacity: 11 Utility: University of Oregon

    Univ of Oregon Central Power Station
    Lane County
    11 MW

    Name: Oregon State University Energy Center County: Benton Megawatt Capacity: 7 Utility: Oregon State University

    Oregon State University Energy Center
    Benton County
    7 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 3,000 Megawatts of wind power and 3,000 Megawatts of solar power.

    Since Oregon already has 10 Megawatts of wind and 0 Megawatts of solar, that's 3,000 Megawatts of wind power we need to build and 3,000 Megawatts of solar power. That's around 123 Megawatts of wind power and 114 Megawatts of solar power a year.

    Percent of needed targetGeneration 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 targetGeneration Built

    Source: EIA, Apr 2022

    Decarbonizing all dirty power cuts 16% of the pollution.

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

    🏭 Other: 33%🔌 Power: 16%🚗 Transport: 41%🏠 Buildings: 10%

    Other Emissions

    🏭 Other: 33%🔌 Power: 16%🚗 Transport: 41%🏠 Buildings: 10%

    The last 33% of Oregon'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

Ready to do your part?

Learn how to electrify your own machines and pass local policy to electrify the rest

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