Rhode Island

Back to map

To get to zero by 2050, Rhode Island must cut climate pollution by 0.4 million metric tons of C02 equivalent a year.

Emissions in Rhode Island

Million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent (MMTCO2e) emissions

We can do it. Here's how.

CO2 Equivalent Emissions in Rhode Island by Source
🏭 Other: 14%🔌 Power: 26%🚗 Transport: 34%🏠 Buildings: 27%

    🏠 Buildings

    27% of emissions in Rhode Island comes from buildings.

    🏭 Other: 14%🔌 Power: 26%🚗 Transport: 34%🏠 Buildings: 27%

    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 393,000 buildings in Rhode Island and 21% of building systems are already electrified.

    We need to electrify the remaining 311,000 buildings in Rhode Island. That's around 11,000 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.20.79% have been electrified, and the remaining 79.21% are fossil fuel based.Building Systems ElectrifiedNot yet

    That will solve 27% of the problem.

    🏭 Other: 14%🔌 Power: 26%🚗 Transport: 34%🏠 Buildings: 27%

    🚗 Getting Around

    34% of emissions in Rhode Island comes from cars, trucks, and planes.

    🏭 Other: 14%🔌 Power: 26%🚗 Transport: 34%🏠 Buildings: 27%

    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 382,000 vehicles in Rhode Island and 2,000 are already electric (0.4% of the total).

    We need to electrify the remaining 380,000 vehicles. That's around 14,000 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 34% of the problem.

    🏭 Other: 14%🔌 Power: 26%🚗 Transport: 34%🏠 Buildings: 27%

    🔌 Power Generation

    26% of emissions in Rhode Island comes from making power.

    🏭 Other: 14%🔌 Power: 26%🚗 Transport: 34%🏠 Buildings: 27%

    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 Rhode Island we need to close and replace:

    9 gas plants

    Name: Rhode Island State Energy Center County: Providence Megawatt Capacity: 596 Utility: RISEC Operating Services

    Rhode Island State Energy Center
    Providence County
    596 MW

    Name: Tiverton Power, LLC County: Newport Megawatt Capacity: 545 Utility: Tiverton Power LLC

    Tiverton Power, LLC
    Newport County
    545 MW

    Name: Manchester Street Station County: Providence Megawatt Capacity: 515 Utility: Manchester Street, LLC.

    Manchester Street Station
    Providence County
    515 MW

    Name: Ocean State Power County: Providence Megawatt Capacity: 254 Utility: Ocean State Power Co

    Ocean State Power
    Providence County
    254 MW

    Name: Ocean State Power II County: Providence Megawatt Capacity: 254 Utility: Ocean State Power II

    Ocean State Power II
    Providence County
    254 MW

    Name: Pawtucket Power Associates, LP County: Providence Megawatt Capacity: 69 Utility: Pawtucket Power Associates LP

    Pawtucket Power Associates, LP
    Providence County
    69 MW

    Name: Toray Plastic America's CHP Plant County: Washington Megawatt Capacity: 20 Utility: Toray Plastics America

    Toray Plastic America's CHP Plant
    Washington County
    20 MW

    Name: Central Power Plant County: Providence Megawatt Capacity: 14 Utility: State of Rhode Island

    Central Power Plant
    Providence County
    14 MW

    Name: Rhode Island Hospital County: Providence Megawatt Capacity: 10 Utility: Rhode Island Hospital

    Rhode Island Hospital
    Providence County
    10 MW

    1 oil plant

    Name: Block Island County: Washington Megawatt Capacity: 14 Utility: Block Island Utility District

    Block Island
    Washington County
    14 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 Rhode Island already has 0 megawatts of solar power generation and 0 megawatts of wind power generation, that's 40 Megawatts of wind capacity AND 37 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 26% of the problem.

    🏭 Other: 14%🔌 Power: 26%🚗 Transport: 34%🏠 Buildings: 27%

    🏭 Other Emissions

    The last 14% of emissions in Rhode Island comes other sources

    🏭 Other: 14%🔌 Power: 26%🚗 Transport: 34%🏠 Buildings: 27%

    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
✅

Ready to do your part?

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

Take Action