Oklahoma

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

Emissions in Oklahoma

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

Oklahoma's climate pollution, by source
🏭 Other: 47%🔌 Power: 24%🚗 Transport: 24%🏠 Buildings: 5%

Source: WRI, Mar 2021

    Decarbonize Our Buildings

    🏭 Other: 47%🔌 Power: 24%🚗 Transport: 24%🏠 Buildings: 5%

    5% of Oklahoma'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 Oklahoma's 2.2 million buildings.

    In fact, 39.5% of appliances in buildings in Oklahoma are already fossil fuel free!

    That means we only need to electrify the remaining 1.3 million dirty buildings in Oklahoma. That's around 48,000 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.39.46% have been electrified, and the remaining 60.54% are fossil fuel based.Appliances Electrified: 39.5%Needed This Year: 2.2%Not Yet: 58.3%Source: Microsoft, Mar 2021; NREL, Dec 2021

    Electrifying all buildings cuts 5% of the pollution.

    🏭 Other: 47%🔌 Power: 24%🚗 Transport: 24%🏠 Buildings: 5%

    Decarbonize Our Transport

    🏭 Other: 47%🔌 Power: 24%🚗 Transport: 24%🏠 Buildings: 5%

    24% of Oklahoma'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 1.2 million vehicles in Oklahoma and 3,000 are already electric (0.3% of the total).

    We need to electrify (or replace) the remaining 1.2 million gas-powered vehicles. That's around 45,000 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.0.3% have been electrified, and the remaining 99.7% are fossil fuel based.Vehicles Electrified: 0.3%Needed This Year: 3.7%Not Yet: 96.0%Source: DOT, Feb 2021

    Electrifying all transportation cuts 24% of the pollution.

    🏭 Other: 47%🔌 Power: 24%🚗 Transport: 24%🏠 Buildings: 5%

    Decarbonize Our Power

    🏭 Other: 47%🔌 Power: 24%🚗 Transport: 24%🏠 Buildings: 5%

    24% of Oklahoma's pollution comes from burning coal, gas, and oil to make power.

    Dirty power plant

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

    Power Generation in the State of Oklahoma (2020)

    But there's already 39% carbon-free electricity generation in Oklahoma!

    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 Oklahoma

    5 coal plants

    Name: Sooner County: Noble Megawatt Capacity: 2,088 Utility: Oklahoma Gas & Electric Co

    Sooner
    Noble County
    2,088 MW

    Name: Northeastern County: Rogers Megawatt Capacity: 1,951 Utility: Public Service Co of Oklahoma

    Northeastern
    Rogers County
    1,951 MW

    Name: Muskogee County: Muskogee Megawatt Capacity: 1,889 Utility: Oklahoma Gas & Electric Co

    Muskogee
    Muskogee County
    1,889 MW

    Name: Hugo County: Choctaw Megawatt Capacity: 1,196 Utility: Western Farmers Elec Coop, Inc

    Hugo
    Choctaw County
    1,196 MW

    Name: River Valley County: Le Flore Megawatt Capacity: 350 Utility: Oklahoma Gas & Electric Co

    River Valley
    Le Flore County
    350 MW

    29 gas plants

    Name: Grand River Dam Authority County: Mayes Megawatt Capacity: 1,734 Utility: Grand River Dam Authority

    Grand River Dam Authority
    Mayes County
    1,734 MW

    Name: Seminole (2956) County: Seminole Megawatt Capacity: 1,724 Utility: Oklahoma Gas & Electric Co

    Seminole (2956)
    Seminole County
    1,724 MW

    Name: Redbud Power Plant County: Oklahoma Megawatt Capacity: 1,434 Utility: Oklahoma Gas & Electric Co

    Redbud Power Plant
    Oklahoma County
    1,434 MW

    Name: Tenaska Kiamichi Generating Station County: Pittsburg Megawatt Capacity: 1,370 Utility: Kiowa Power Partners LLC

    Tenaska Kiamichi Generating Station
    Pittsburg County
    1,370 MW

    ...and 25 more

    6 oil plants

    Name: Boomer Lake Station County: Payne Megawatt Capacity: 29 Utility: Stillwater Utilities Authority

    Boomer Lake Station
    Payne County
    29 MW

    Name: Cushing County: Payne Megawatt Capacity: 25 Utility: City of Cushing - (OK)

    Cushing
    Payne County
    25 MW

    Name: Pawhuska County: Osage Megawatt Capacity: 9 Utility: City of Pawhuska - (OK)

    Pawhuska
    Osage County
    9 MW

    Name: Cana Gas Processing Plant County: Canadian Megawatt Capacity: 8 Utility: EnLink Midstream Services, LLC

    Cana Gas Processing Plant
    Canadian County
    8 MW

    Name: Laverne Diesel Generating Plant County: Harper Megawatt Capacity: 4 Utility: Town of Laverne - (OK)

    Laverne Diesel Generating Plant
    Harper County
    4 MW

    Name: Stillwater Water Treatment Plant County: Payne Megawatt Capacity: 2 Utility: Stillwater Utilities Authority

    Stillwater Water Treatment Plant
    Payne 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, Oklahoma would need to install about 2,000 turbines.

    Since Oklahoma already has 4,000 MW of wind and 15 MW of solar, that's 899 MW of wind power we need to build and 5,000 MW of solar power. That's around 33 MW of wind power and 199 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.40.5% have been electrified, and the remaining 59.5% are fossil fuel based.MWs of Wind and Solar Built: 40.5%Needed This Year: 2.2%Not Yet: 57.3%

    Source: EIA, Apr 2022

    Decarbonizing all dirty power cuts 24% of the pollution.

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

    🏭 Other: 47%🔌 Power: 24%🚗 Transport: 24%🏠 Buildings: 5%

    Other Emissions

    🏭 Other: 47%🔌 Power: 24%🚗 Transport: 24%🏠 Buildings: 5%

    The last 47% of Oklahoma'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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