Oregon

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To get to zero by 2050, Oregon must cut climate pollution by 1.9 million metric tons of C02 equivalent a year.

Emissions in Oregon

Million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent (MMTCO2e) emissions

We can do it. Here's how.

CO2 Equivalent Emissions in Oregon by Source
🏭 Other: 33%🔌 Power: 16%🚗 Transport: 41%🏠 Buildings: 10%

    🏠 Buildings

    10% of emissions in Oregon comes from buildings.

    🏭 Other: 33%🔌 Power: 16%🚗 Transport: 41%🏠 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 1.9 million buildings in Oregon and 55% of building systems are already electrified.

    We need to electrify the remaining 844,000 buildings in Oregon. That's around 30,000 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.54.98% have been electrified, and the remaining 45.02% are fossil fuel based.Building Systems ElectrifiedNot yet

    That will solve 10% of the problem.

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

    🚗 Getting Around

    41% of emissions in Oregon comes from cars, trucks, and planes.

    🏭 Other: 33%🔌 Power: 16%🚗 Transport: 41%🏠 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 1.4 million vehicles in Oregon and 23,000 are already electric (1.6% of the total).

    We need to electrify the remaining 1.4 million 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 yet

    That will solve another 41% of the problem.

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

    🔌 Power Generation

    16% of emissions in Oregon comes from making power.

    🏭 Other: 33%🔌 Power: 16%🚗 Transport: 41%🏠 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 Oregon we need to close and replace:

    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

    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 3,000 MWs of wind and 3,000 MWs of solar.

    Since Oregon already has 0 megawatts of solar power generation and 10 megawatts of wind power generation, that's 123 Megawatts of wind capacity AND 114 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 0% of the way to what we need to be carbon neutral by 2050.Solar & Wind MWs InstalledRemaining to Install

    That will solve another 16% of the problem.

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

    🏭 Other Emissions

    The last 33% of emissions in Oregon comes other sources

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