Maine

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To get to zero by 2050, Maine must cut climate pollution by 0.6 million metric tons of C02 equivalent a year.

Emissions in Maine

Million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent (MMTCO2e) emissions

We can do it. Here's how.

CO2 Equivalent Emissions in Maine by Source
🏭 Other: 21%🔌 Power: 6%🚗 Transport: 44%🏠 Buildings: 29%

    🏠 Buildings

    29% of emissions in Maine comes from buildings.

    🏭 Other: 21%🔌 Power: 6%🚗 Transport: 44%🏠 Buildings: 29%

    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 759,000 buildings in Maine and 23% of building systems are already electrified.

    We need to electrify the remaining 583,000 buildings in Maine. 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.23.14% have been electrified, and the remaining 76.86% are fossil fuel based.Building Systems ElectrifiedNot yet

    That will solve 29% of the problem.

    🏭 Other: 21%🔌 Power: 6%🚗 Transport: 44%🏠 Buildings: 29%

    🚗 Getting Around

    44% of emissions in Maine comes from cars, trucks, and planes.

    🏭 Other: 21%🔌 Power: 6%🚗 Transport: 44%🏠 Buildings: 29%

    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 356,000 vehicles in Maine and 2,000 are already electric (0.5% of the total).

    We need to electrify the remaining 354,000 vehicles. That's around 13,000 a year.

    Percent of Vehicles electrifiedA chart showing the share of Vehicles that have already been electrified and still based in fossil fuel.0.5% have been electrified, and the remaining 99.5% are fossil fuel based.Vehicles ElectrifiedNot yet

    That will solve another 44% of the problem.

    🏭 Other: 21%🔌 Power: 6%🚗 Transport: 44%🏠 Buildings: 29%

    🔌 Power Generation

    6% of emissions in Maine comes from making power.

    🏭 Other: 21%🔌 Power: 6%🚗 Transport: 44%🏠 Buildings: 29%

    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 Maine we need to close and replace:

    6 gas plants

    Name: Westbrook Energy Center County: Cumberland Megawatt Capacity: 564 Utility: Westbrook Energy Center

    Westbrook Energy Center
    Cumberland County
    564 MW

    Name: Maine Independence Station County: Penobscot Megawatt Capacity: 550 Utility: Casco Bay Energy Co LLC

    Maine Independence Station
    Penobscot County
    550 MW

    Name: Bucksport Generation LLC County: Hancock Megawatt Capacity: 298 Utility: Bucksport Generation LLC

    Bucksport Generation LLC
    Hancock County
    298 MW

    Name: Rumford Power County: Oxford Megawatt Capacity: 275 Utility: Rumford Power

    Rumford Power
    Oxford County
    275 MW

    Name: Androscoggin Energy County: Franklin Megawatt Capacity: 164 Utility: Verso Paper Androscoggin LLC

    Androscoggin Energy
    Franklin County
    164 MW

    Name: Eastern Maine Medical Center County: Penobscot Megawatt Capacity: 4 Utility: Eastern Maine Medical Center

    Eastern Maine Medical Center
    Penobscot County
    4 MW

    3 oil plants

    Name: William F Wyman County: Cumberland Megawatt Capacity: 863 Utility: FPL Energy Wyman LLC

    William F Wyman
    Cumberland County
    863 MW

    Name: Cape Gas Turbine County: Cumberland Megawatt Capacity: 35 Utility: FPL Energy Cape LLC

    Cape Gas Turbine
    Cumberland County
    35 MW

    Name: Robbins Lumber County: Waldo Megawatt Capacity: 13 Utility: Robbins Lumber Inc

    Robbins Lumber
    Waldo County
    13 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 1,000 MWs of wind and 1,000 MWs of solar.

    Since Maine already has 36 megawatts of solar power generation and 291 megawatts of wind power generation, that's 42 Megawatts of wind capacity AND 41 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 13% of the way to what we need to be carbon neutral by 2050.Solar & Wind MWs InstalledRemaining to Install

    That will solve another 6% of the problem.

    🏭 Other: 21%🔌 Power: 6%🚗 Transport: 44%🏠 Buildings: 29%

    🏭 Other Emissions

    The last 21% of emissions in Maine comes other sources

    🏭 Other: 21%🔌 Power: 6%🚗 Transport: 44%🏠 Buildings: 29%

    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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