South Dakota

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To get to zero by 2050, South Dakota must cut climate pollution by 1.5 million metric tons of C02 equivalent a year.

Emissions in South Dakota

Million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent (MMTCO2e) emissions

We can do it. Here's how.

CO2 Equivalent Emissions in South Dakota by Source
🏭 Other: 72%🔌 Power: 7%🚗 Transport: 16%🏠 Buildings: 5%

    🏠 Buildings

    5% of emissions in South Dakota comes from buildings.

    🏭 Other: 72%🔌 Power: 7%🚗 Transport: 16%🏠 Buildings: 5%

    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 661,000 buildings in South Dakota and 37% of building systems are already electrified.

    We need to electrify the remaining 418,000 buildings in South Dakota. That's around 15,000 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.36.76% have been electrified, and the remaining 63.24% are fossil fuel based.Building Systems ElectrifiedNot yet

    That will solve 5% of the problem.

    🏭 Other: 72%🔌 Power: 7%🚗 Transport: 16%🏠 Buildings: 5%

    🚗 Getting Around

    16% of emissions in South Dakota comes from cars, trucks, and planes.

    🏭 Other: 72%🔌 Power: 7%🚗 Transport: 16%🏠 Buildings: 5%

    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 325,000 vehicles in South Dakota and 410 are already electric (0.1% of the total).

    We need to electrify the remaining 325,000 vehicles. That's around 12,000 a year.

    Percent of Vehicles electrifiedA chart showing the share of Vehicles that have already been electrified and still based in fossil fuel.0.1% have been electrified, and the remaining 99.9% are fossil fuel based.Vehicles ElectrifiedNot yet

    That will solve another 16% of the problem.

    🏭 Other: 72%🔌 Power: 7%🚗 Transport: 16%🏠 Buildings: 5%

    🔌 Power Generation

    7% of emissions in South Dakota comes from making power.

    🏭 Other: 72%🔌 Power: 7%🚗 Transport: 16%🏠 Buildings: 5%

    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 South Dakota we need to close and replace:

    1 coal plant

    Name: Big Stone County: Grant Megawatt Capacity: 451 Utility: Otter Tail Power Co

    Big Stone
    Grant County
    451 MW

    9 gas plants

    Name: Angus Anson County: Minnehaha Megawatt Capacity: 406 Utility: Northern States Power Co - Minnesota

    Angus Anson
    Minnehaha County
    406 MW

    Name: Deer Creek Station County: Brookings Megawatt Capacity: 324 Utility: Basin Electric Power Coop

    Deer Creek Station
    Brookings County
    324 MW

    Name: Groton Generating Station County: Brown Megawatt Capacity: 189 Utility: Basin Electric Power Coop

    Groton Generating Station
    Brown County
    189 MW

    Name: Ben French County: Pennington Megawatt Capacity: 135 Utility: Black Hills Power, Inc. d/b/a

    Ben French
    Pennington County
    135 MW

    Name: Aberdeen Generating Station County: Brown Megawatt Capacity: 111 Utility: NorthWestern Energy - (SD)

    Aberdeen Generating Station
    Brown County
    111 MW

    Name: Huron County: Beadle Megawatt Capacity: 58 Utility: NorthWestern Energy - (SD)

    Huron
    Beadle County
    58 MW

    Name: Lange County: Pennington Megawatt Capacity: 40 Utility: Black Hills Power, Inc. d/b/a

    Lange
    Pennington County
    40 MW

    Name: Yankton County: Yankton Megawatt Capacity: 13 Utility: NorthWestern Energy - (SD)

    Yankton
    Yankton County
    13 MW

    Name: POET Biorefining - Hudson County: Lincoln Megawatt Capacity: 4 Utility: POET Biorefining - Hudson

    POET Biorefining - Hudson
    Lincoln County
    4 MW

    9 oil plants

    Name: Spirit Mound County: Clay Megawatt Capacity: 135 Utility: Basin Electric Power Coop

    Spirit Mound
    Clay County
    135 MW

    Name: Watertown Power Plant County: Codington Megawatt Capacity: 68 Utility: Missouri Basin Muni Power Agny

    Watertown Power Plant
    Codington County
    68 MW

    Name: Lake Preston County: Kingsbury Megawatt Capacity: 48 Utility: Otter Tail Power Co

    Lake Preston
    Kingsbury County
    48 MW

    Name: Ft. Pierre County: Stanley Megawatt Capacity: 6 Utility: City of Fort Pierre - (SD)

    Ft. Pierre
    Stanley County
    6 MW

    Name: Valley Queen Cheese County: Grant Megawatt Capacity: 5 Utility: Valley Queen Cheese Factory, Inc.

    Valley Queen Cheese
    Grant County
    5 MW

    Name: Mobile Unit County: Beadle Megawatt Capacity: 4 Utility: NorthWestern Energy - (SD)

    Mobile Unit
    Beadle County
    4 MW

    Name: Clark (SD) County: Clark Megawatt Capacity: 3 Utility: NorthWestern Energy - (SD)

    Clark (SD)
    Clark County
    3 MW

    Name: Faulkton County: Faulk Megawatt Capacity: 3 Utility: NorthWestern Energy - (SD)

    Faulkton
    Faulk County
    3 MW

    Name: State Auto Insurance County: Grant Megawatt Capacity: 2 Utility: State Auto Insurance, Inc.

    State Auto Insurance
    Grant County
    2 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 813 MWs of solar.

    Since South Dakota already has 0 megawatts of solar power generation and 1,000 megawatts of wind power generation, that's 0 Megawatts of wind capacity AND 29 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 50% of the way to what we need to be carbon neutral by 2050.Solar & Wind MWs InstalledRemaining to Install

    That will solve another 7% of the problem.

    🏭 Other: 72%🔌 Power: 7%🚗 Transport: 16%🏠 Buildings: 5%

    🏭 Other Emissions

    The last 72% of emissions in South Dakota comes other sources

    🏭 Other: 72%🔌 Power: 7%🚗 Transport: 16%🏠 Buildings: 5%

    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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