To get to zero by 2050, Idaho must cut climate pollution by
1.2 million metric tons of CO2 equivalent a year.

Emissions in Idaho

Million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent (MMTCO2e) emissions

This is how we're going to do it.


Idaho's climate pollution, by source
🏭 Other: 54%🔌 Power: 4%🚗 Transport: 32%🏠 Buildings: 10%

    Decarbonize Our Buildings

    🏭 Other: 54%🔌 Power: 4%🚗 Transport: 32%🏠 Buildings: 10%

    10% of Idaho'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...

    ...in all of Idaho's 942,000 buildings.

    In fact, 38% of buildings in Idaho are already fossil fuel free!

    That means we only need to electrify the remaining 583,000 buildings in Idaho. That's around 21,000 per year.

    Percent of Buildings electrifiedA chart showing the share of Buildings that have already been electrified and still based in fossil fuel.38.12% have been electrified, and the remaining 61.88% are fossil fuel based.Buildings ElectrifiedNot yet

    That cuts 10% of the pollution.

    🏭 Other: 54%🔌 Power: 4%🚗 Transport: 32%🏠 Buildings: 10%

    Decarbonize Our Transport

    🏭 Other: 54%🔌 Power: 4%🚗 Transport: 32%🏠 Buildings: 10%

    32% of Idaho'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!

    Then, we'll electrify all 588,000 cars and trucks in Idaho!

    There are 588,000 vehicles in Idaho and 2,000 are already electric (0.4% of the total).

    We need to electrify the remaining 586,000 vehicles. That's around 21,000 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 cuts 32% of the pollution.

    🏭 Other: 54%🔌 Power: 4%🚗 Transport: 32%🏠 Buildings: 10%

    Decarbonize Our Power

    🏭 Other: 54%🔌 Power: 4%🚗 Transport: 32%🏠 Buildings: 10%

    4% of Idaho's pollution comes from burning coal, gas, and oil to make power.

    Dirty power plant

    To cut this pollution...

    Put solar panels on your roof!

    Then, we'll 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 Idaho

    8 gas plants

    Name: Bennett Mountain Power Project
County: Elmore
Megawatt Capacity: 393
Utility: Idaho Power Co

    Bennett Mountain Power Project
    Elmore County
    393 MW

    Name: Langley Gulch Power Plant
County: Payette
Megawatt Capacity: 319
Utility: Idaho Power Co

    Langley Gulch Power Plant
    Payette County
    319 MW

    Name: Rathdrum Power, LLC
County: Kootenai
Megawatt Capacity: 302
Utility: Rathdrum Operating Services Co., Inc.

    Rathdrum Power, LLC
    Kootenai County
    302 MW

    Name: Evander Andrews Power Complex
County: Elmore
Megawatt Capacity: 271
Utility: Idaho Power Co

    Evander Andrews Power Complex
    Elmore County
    271 MW

    Name: Rathdrum Combustion Turbine Project
County: Kootenai
Megawatt Capacity: 166
Utility: Avista Corp

    Rathdrum Combustion Turbine Project
    Kootenai County
    166 MW

    Name: Amalgamated Sugar Twin Falls
County: Twin Falls
Megawatt Capacity: 10
Utility: The Amalgamated Sugar Co

    Amalgamated Sugar Twin Falls
    Twin Falls County
    10 MW

    Name: Amalgamated Sugar LLC Nampa
County: Canyon
Megawatt Capacity: 9
Utility: Amalgamated Sugar Co-Nampa

    Amalgamated Sugar LLC Nampa
    Canyon County
    9 MW

    Name: BYUI Central Energy Facility
County: Madison
Megawatt Capacity: 6
Utility: Brigham Young Univ Idaho

    BYUI Central Energy Facility
    Madison County
    6 MW

    1 oil plant

    Name: Salmon Diesel
County: Lemhi
Megawatt Capacity: 5
Utility: Idaho Power Co

    Salmon Diesel
    Lemhi County
    5 MW

    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 2x the electricity we have today!

    In all, we'll need to build 2,000 MWs of wind and 1,000 MWs of solar.

    Since Idaho already has 78 megawatts of solar power generation and 303 megawatts of wind power generation, that's 48 Megawatts of wind capacity AND 47 Megawatts of solar capacity a year we need to build.

    Percent of needed targetGeneration builtA chart showing the share of Solar and Wind capacity that has already been installed and rest to be installed. We are 15% of the way to what we need to be carbon neutral by 2050.MWs of targetGeneration Built

    That cuts 4% of the pollution.

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

    🏭 Other: 54%🔌 Power: 4%🚗 Transport: 32%🏠 Buildings: 10%

    Other Emissions

    🏭 Other: 54%🔌 Power: 4%🚗 Transport: 32%🏠 Buildings: 10%

    The last 54% of Idaho'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

Ready to do your part?

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

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