Massachusetts
Back to mapTo get to zero by 2050, Massachusetts must cut climate pollution by 2.6 million metric tons of C02 equivalent a year.
Emissions in Massachusetts
Million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent (MMTCO2e) emissions
We can do it. Here's how.
- Regenerative agriculture to sequester carbon in soil
- Composting to reduce landfill methane emissions
- New techniques for manufacturing CO2 emitting materials, like concrete
🏠 Buildings
30% of emissions in Massachusetts comes from buildings.
Mostly from different types of heating.
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.
There are 2.1 million buildings in Massachusetts and 24% of building systems are already electrified.
We need to electrify the remaining 1.6 million buildings in Massachusetts. That's around 58,000 per year.
That will solve 30% of the problem.
🚗 Getting Around
43% of emissions in Massachusetts comes from cars, trucks, and planes.
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.
There are 2.0 million vehicles in Massachusetts and 21,000 are already electric (1% of the total).
We need to electrify the remaining 2.0 million vehicles. That's around 71,000 a year.
That will solve another 43% of the problem.
🔌 Power Generation
11% of emissions in Massachusetts comes from making power.
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).
In Massachusetts we need to close and replace:
38 gas plants
Mystic
Middlesex County
2,844 MW
Fore River Energy Center
Norfolk County
872 MW
Salem Harbor Station NGCC
Essex County
798 MW
ANP Bellingham Energy Company, LLC
Norfolk County
578 MW
ANP Blackstone Energy Company, LLC
Worcester County
578 MW
Millennium Power Partners
Worcester County
428 MW
Bellingham
Norfolk County
386 MW
West Springfield
Hampden County
353 MW
Kendall Green Energy LLC
Middlesex County
295 MW
Berkshire Power
Hampden County
289 MW
16 oil plants
Canal Station
Barnstable County
1,825 MW
Stony Brook Energy Center
Hampden County
957 MW
Medway Station
Norfolk County
135 MW
MBTA South Boston Power Facility
Suffolk County
69 MW
Framingham Station
Norfolk County
43 MW
Nantucket Hybrid
Nantucket County
42 MW
Doreen
Berkshire County
21 MW
Woodland Road
Berkshire County
20 MW
Cherry Street
Middlesex County
20 MW
Wellesley College Central Utility Plant
Norfolk County
10 MW
...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 6,000 MWs of wind and 5,000 MWs of solar.
Since Massachusetts already has 491 megawatts of solar power generation and 25 megawatts of wind power generation, that's 205 Megawatts of wind capacity AND 151 Megawatts of solar capacity a year we need to build.
That will solve another 11% of the problem.
🏭 Other Emissions
The last 16% of emissions in Massachusetts comes other sources
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:
Learn how to electrify your own machines and pass local policy to electrify the rest
Take Action