Idaho

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To get to zero by 2050, Idaho must cut climate pollution by 1.2 million metric tons of C02 equivalent a year.

Emissions in Idaho

Million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent (MMTCO2e) emissions

We can do it. Here's how.

CO2 Equivalent Emissions in Idaho by Source
🏭 Other: 54%🔌 Power: 4%🚗 Transport: 32%🏠 Buildings: 10%

    🏠 Buildings

    10% of emissions in Idaho comes from buildings.

    🏭 Other: 54%🔌 Power: 4%🚗 Transport: 32%🏠 Buildings: 10%

    Mostly from different types of heating.

    Gas furnace, gas water heater, gas stove

    80% of the pollution of your typical home comes from heating your space, water, and food.

    To stop this pollution, we need to replace our furnaces with electric heat pumps, electrify our water heaters, and cook with induction and electricity instead of gas.

    Electric heat pump, electric water heater, induction stove

    There are 942,000 buildings in Idaho and 38% of building systems are already electrified.

    We need to electrify the remaining 583,000 buildings in Idaho. That's around 21,000 per year.

    Percent of Building Systems electrifiedA chart showing the share of Building Systems that have already been electrified and still based in fossil fuel.38.12% have been electrified, and the remaining 61.88% are fossil fuel based.Building Systems ElectrifiedNot yet

    That will solve 10% of the problem.

    🏭 Other: 54%🔌 Power: 4%🚗 Transport: 32%🏠 Buildings: 10%

    🚗 Getting Around

    32% of emissions in Idaho comes from cars, trucks, and planes.

    🏭 Other: 54%🔌 Power: 4%🚗 Transport: 32%🏠 Buildings: 10%

    Mostly from our cars.

    To cut this pollution, if you have a car, your next one needs to be an electric vehicle (EV).

    Or try going car-free with public transit, bikes/e-bikes, or walking if it works for you.

    Gas emitting car being converted to electric car

    There are 588,000 vehicles in Idaho and 2,000 are already electric (0.4% of the total).

    We need to electrify the remaining 586,000 vehicles. That's around 21,000 a year.

    Percent of Vehicles electrifiedA chart showing the share of Vehicles that have already been electrified and still based in fossil fuel.0.4% have been electrified, and the remaining 99.6% are fossil fuel based.Vehicles ElectrifiedNot yet

    That will solve another 32% of the problem.

    🏭 Other: 54%🔌 Power: 4%🚗 Transport: 32%🏠 Buildings: 10%

    🔌 Power Generation

    4% of emissions in Idaho comes from making power.

    🏭 Other: 54%🔌 Power: 4%🚗 Transport: 32%🏠 Buildings: 10%

    Specifically from coal, gas, and oil plants.

    To cut this pollution, we need to replace all dirty power plants with clean ones (mostly wind and solar).

    We need to replace dirty power plants with clean ones (mostly wind and solar)

    In Idaho we need to close and replace:

    8 gas plants

    Name: Bennett Mountain Power Project County: Elmore Megawatt Capacity: 393 Utility: Idaho Power Co

    Bennett Mountain Power Project
    Elmore County
    393 MW

    Name: Langley Gulch Power Plant County: Payette Megawatt Capacity: 319 Utility: Idaho Power Co

    Langley Gulch Power Plant
    Payette County
    319 MW

    Name: Rathdrum Power, LLC County: Kootenai Megawatt Capacity: 302 Utility: Rathdrum Operating Services Co., Inc.

    Rathdrum Power, LLC
    Kootenai County
    302 MW

    Name: Evander Andrews Power Complex County: Elmore Megawatt Capacity: 271 Utility: Idaho Power Co

    Evander Andrews Power Complex
    Elmore County
    271 MW

    Name: Rathdrum Combustion Turbine Project County: Kootenai Megawatt Capacity: 166 Utility: Avista Corp

    Rathdrum Combustion Turbine Project
    Kootenai County
    166 MW

    Name: Amalgamated Sugar Twin Falls County: Twin Falls Megawatt Capacity: 10 Utility: The Amalgamated Sugar Co

    Amalgamated Sugar Twin Falls
    Twin Falls County
    10 MW

    Name: Amalgamated Sugar LLC Nampa County: Canyon Megawatt Capacity: 9 Utility: Amalgamated Sugar Co-Nampa

    Amalgamated Sugar LLC Nampa
    Canyon County
    9 MW

    Name: BYUI Central Energy Facility County: Madison Megawatt Capacity: 6 Utility: Brigham Young Univ Idaho

    BYUI Central Energy Facility
    Madison County
    6 MW

    1 oil plant

    Name: Salmon Diesel County: Lemhi Megawatt Capacity: 5 Utility: Idaho Power Co

    Salmon Diesel
    Lemhi County
    5 MW

    See a map of dirty power plants in the US

    ...and help those workers find good jobs.

    But wait! Remember how we electrified all cars and buildings?

    Our machines don't pollute now, because they run on electricity!

    But that means we need to make more power for those new electric machines - twice as much power as we make now!

    And all of it needs to be clean power!

    So to cut the climate pollution from our power, cars, and buildings we need to INSTALL 2,000 MWs of wind and 1,000 MWs of solar.

    Since Idaho already has 78 megawatts of solar power generation and 303 megawatts of wind power generation, that's 48 Megawatts of wind capacity AND 47 Megawatts of solar capacity a year we need to build.

    Percent to Needed ElectrificationA chart showing the share of Solar and Wind capacity that has already been installed and rest to be installed. We are 15% of the way to what we need to be carbon neutral by 2050.Solar & Wind MWs InstalledRemaining to Install

    That will solve another 4% of the problem.

    🏭 Other: 54%🔌 Power: 4%🚗 Transport: 32%🏠 Buildings: 10%

    🏭 Other Emissions

    The last 54% of emissions in Idaho comes other sources

    🏭 Other: 54%🔌 Power: 4%🚗 Transport: 32%🏠 Buildings: 10%

    This includes industry, landfills, and farming.

    There's no one solution to solve these problems, but there are a lot of great ideas!

    These include:

    • Regenerative agriculture to sequester carbon in soil
    • Composting to reduce landfill methane emissions
    • New techniques for manufacturing CO2 emitting materials, like concrete
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Ready to do your part?

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

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