Maryland

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To get to zero by 2050, Maryland must cut emissions by 3.7% a year

Emissions in Maryland

Million metric tons of carbon dioxide (CO2)  equivalent (MTCO2e ) emissions

Note: Grey area indicates missing data due to processing delays.
Source: WRI, Mar 2021

This is how we're going to do it

Maryland's climate pollution, by source
🏭 Other: 19%🔌 Power: 23%🚗 Transport: 41%🏠 Buildings: 17%

Source: WRI, Mar 2021

    Decarbonize Our Buildings

    🏭 Other: 19%🔌 Power: 23%🚗 Transport: 41%🏠 Buildings: 17%

    17% of Maryland's climate pollution comes from buildings.

    We burn fossil fuels to heat our air, water, and food.

    To cut this pollution...

    Let's electrify our heat!

    We'll replace...

    • Boilers and furnaces with heat pumps 
    • Gas stoves with electric induction stoves 

    ...in all of Maryland's 1.7 million buildings.

    In fact, 45.0% of appliances in buildings in Maryland are already fossil fuel free!

    That means we only need to electrify the remaining 912,000 dirty buildings in Maryland. That's around 34,000 per year.

    Percent of Appliances Electrified electrifiedA chart showing the share of Appliances Electrified that have already been electrified and still based in fossil fuel.44.99% have been electrified, and the remaining 55.01% are fossil fuel based.Appliances Electrified: 45.0%Needed This Year: 2.0%Not Yet: 53.0%Source: Microsoft, Mar 2021; NREL, Dec 2021

    Electrifying all buildings cuts 17% of the pollution.

    🏭 Other: 19%🔌 Power: 23%🚗 Transport: 41%🏠 Buildings: 17%

    Decarbonize Our Transport

    🏭 Other: 19%🔌 Power: 23%🚗 Transport: 41%🏠 Buildings: 17%

    41% of Maryland's pollution comes from cars, trucks, trains, and planes.

    But mostly from cars.

    To cut this pollution,

    your next car must be electric.

    Or consider going car-free with public transit, bikes/e-bikes, car share, or other alternatives!

    There are 1.8 million vehicles in Maryland and 18,000 are already electric (1% of the total).

    We need to electrify (or replace) the remaining 1.8 million gas-powered vehicles. That's around 67,000 a year.

    Percent of Vehicles Electrified electrifiedA chart showing the share of Vehicles Electrified that have already been electrified and still based in fossil fuel.1% have been electrified, and the remaining 99% are fossil fuel based.Vehicles Electrified: 1.0%Needed This Year: 3.7%Not Yet: 95.3%Source: DOT, Feb 2021

    Electrifying all transportation cuts 41% of the pollution.

    🏭 Other: 19%🔌 Power: 23%🚗 Transport: 41%🏠 Buildings: 17%

    Decarbonize Our Power

    🏭 Other: 19%🔌 Power: 23%🚗 Transport: 41%🏠 Buildings: 17%

    23% of Maryland's pollution comes from burning coal, gas, and oil to make power.

    Dirty power plant

    That's because of how power is generated in Maryland today.

    Power Generation in the State of Maryland (2020)

    But there's already 52% carbon-free electricity generation in Maryland!

    To clean up the emissions from the polluting power plants we need to replace all fossil fuel power plants with solar and wind farms.

    We need to replace dirty power plants with clean ones (mostly wind and solar)

    ...and find good jobs for those workers.

    Current Fossil Fuel Power Plants in Maryland

    5 coal plants

    Name: Chalk Point County: Prince Georges Megawatt Capacity: 2,553 Utility: GenOn Chalk Point, LLC

    Chalk Point
    Prince Georges County
    2,553 MW

    Name: Morgantown County: Charles Megawatt Capacity: 1,548 Utility: GenOn Mid-Atlantic LLC

    Morgantown
    Charles County
    1,548 MW

    Name: Brandon Shores County: Anne Arundel Megawatt Capacity: 1,370 Utility: Brandon Shores LLC

    Brandon Shores
    Anne Arundel County
    1,370 MW

    Name: Herbert A Wagner County: Anne Arundel Megawatt Capacity: 1,059 Utility: H.A. Wagner LLC

    Herbert A Wagner
    Anne Arundel County
    1,059 MW

    Name: AES Warrior Run County: Allegany Megawatt Capacity: 229 Utility: AES WR Ltd Partnership

    AES Warrior Run
    Allegany County
    229 MW

    16 gas plants

    Name: Wildcat Point Generation Facility County: Cecil Megawatt Capacity: 1,114 Utility: Old Dominion Electric Coop

    Wildcat Point Generation Facility
    Cecil County
    1,114 MW

    Name: Dickerson County: Montgomery Megawatt Capacity: 933 Utility: GenOn Mid-Atlantic LLC

    Dickerson
    Montgomery County
    933 MW

    Name: Keys Energy Center County: Prince Georges Megawatt Capacity: 831 Utility: PSEG Keys Energy Center, LLC

    Keys Energy Center
    Prince Georges County
    831 MW

    Name: Rock Springs Generating Facility County: Cecil Megawatt Capacity: 774 Utility: Essential Power Rock Springs LLC

    Rock Springs Generating Facility
    Cecil County
    774 MW

    ...and 12 more

    8 oil plants

    Name: Riverside (MD) County: Baltimore Megawatt Capacity: 257 Utility: Constellation Power Source Gen

    Riverside (MD)
    Baltimore County
    257 MW

    Name: Vienna County: Dorchester Megawatt Capacity: 181 Utility: NRG Vienna Operations Inc

    Vienna
    Dorchester County
    181 MW

    Name: Philadelphia County: Baltimore City Megawatt Capacity: 83 Utility: Constellation Power Source Gen

    Philadelphia
    Baltimore City County
    83 MW

    Name: Easton 2 County: Talbot Megawatt Capacity: 39 Utility: Easton Utilities Comm

    Easton 2
    Talbot County
    39 MW

    Name: Easton County: Talbot Megawatt Capacity: 34 Utility: Easton Utilities Comm

    Easton
    Talbot County
    34 MW

    Name: Berlin County: Worcester Megawatt Capacity: 22 Utility: Town of Berlin - (MD)

    Berlin
    Worcester County
    22 MW

    Name: Crisfield County: Somerset Megawatt Capacity: 12 Utility: Calpine Mid-Atlantic Generation LLC

    Crisfield
    Somerset County
    12 MW

    Name: Smith Island County: Somerset Megawatt Capacity: 2 Utility: A & N Electric Coop

    Smith Island
    Somerset County
    2 MW

    Find the dirty plants near you

    Source: EPA, Jan 2021

    But wait!

    It's not enough to replace our power plants with wind and solar farms.

    To power our electric cars and buildings, we need two times the electricity we have today.

    In all, we'll need to build 5,000 megawatt (MW)  of wind power and 5,000 MW of solar power.

    Since the average wind turbine provides 2.75 MW of peak capacity, Maryland would need to install about 2,000 turbines.

    Since Maryland already has 59 MW of wind and 194 MW of solar, that's 5,000 MW of wind power we need to build and 4,000 MW of solar power. That's around 175 MW of wind power and 163 MW of solar power a year.

    Percent of MWs of Wind and Solar Built electrifiedA chart showing the share of MWs of Wind and Solar Built that have already been electrified and still based in fossil fuel.4.5% have been electrified, and the remaining 95.5% are fossil fuel based.MWs of Wind and Solar Built: 4.5%Needed This Year: 3.5%Not Yet: 92.0%

    Source: EIA, Apr 2022

    Decarbonizing all dirty power cuts 23% of the pollution.

    And gives us zero-emissions power we need to eliminate pollution from buildings and cars!

    🏭 Other: 19%🔌 Power: 23%🚗 Transport: 41%🏠 Buildings: 17%

    Other Emissions

    🏭 Other: 19%🔌 Power: 23%🚗 Transport: 41%🏠 Buildings: 17%

    The last 19% of Maryland's climate pollution comes from other sources...

    This includes farming, landfills, industry, and leaks from gas pipelines.

    There's no one solution to solve these problems, but there are lots of great ideas:

    • No-till farming to keep CO2 in the soil
    • Capturing methane leaks from landfills
    • Capturing CO2 to make emissions-free concrete
    • Burning green hydrogen to make emissions-free steel
    • Plugging methane leaks from gas pipelines

    That doesn't mean there's no solution, it just means that clean electrification  doesn't help with these problems, and you could fill a whole book with covering all of them. We need to encourage our politicians to invest in researching new solutions and implementing existing solutions to these problems!

Ready to do your part?

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

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