Iowa

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

Emissions in Iowa

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

Iowa's climate pollution, by source
🏭 Other: 56%🔌 Power: 21%🚗 Transport: 15%🏠 Buildings: 7%

Source: WRI, Mar 2021

    Decarbonize Our Buildings

    🏭 Other: 56%🔌 Power: 21%🚗 Transport: 15%🏠 Buildings: 7%

    7% of Iowa'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 Iowa's 2.1 million buildings.

    In fact, 28.3% of appliances in buildings in Iowa are already fossil fuel free!

    That means we only need to electrify the remaining 1.5 million dirty buildings in Iowa. That's around 55,000 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.28.27% have been electrified, and the remaining 71.73% are fossil fuel based.Appliances Electrified: 28.3%Needed This Year: 2.7%Not Yet: 69.1%Source: Microsoft, Mar 2021; NREL, Dec 2021

    Electrifying all buildings cuts 7% of the pollution.

    🏭 Other: 56%🔌 Power: 21%🚗 Transport: 15%🏠 Buildings: 7%

    Decarbonize Our Transport

    🏭 Other: 56%🔌 Power: 21%🚗 Transport: 15%🏠 Buildings: 7%

    15% of Iowa'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 Iowa and 2,000 are already electric (0.2% of the total).

    We need to electrify (or replace) the remaining 1.2 million gas-powered vehicles. That's around 43,000 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.0.2% have been electrified, and the remaining 99.8% are fossil fuel based.Vehicles Electrified: 0.2%Needed This Year: 3.7%Not Yet: 96.1%Source: DOT, Feb 2021

    Electrifying all transportation cuts 15% of the pollution.

    🏭 Other: 56%🔌 Power: 21%🚗 Transport: 15%🏠 Buildings: 7%

    Decarbonize Our Power

    🏭 Other: 56%🔌 Power: 21%🚗 Transport: 15%🏠 Buildings: 7%

    21% of Iowa'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 Iowa

    15 coal plants

    Name: Walter Scott Jr. Energy Center County: Pottawattamie Megawatt Capacity: 1,779 Utility: MidAmerican Energy Co

    Walter Scott Jr. Energy Center
    Pottawattamie County
    1,779 MW

    Name: George Neal North County: Woodbury Megawatt Capacity: 1,080 Utility: MidAmerican Energy Co

    George Neal North
    Woodbury County
    1,080 MW

    Name: Louisa County: Louisa Megawatt Capacity: 812 Utility: MidAmerican Energy Co

    Louisa
    Louisa County
    812 MW

    Name: Ottumwa County: Wapello Megawatt Capacity: 726 Utility: Interstate Power and Light Co

    Ottumwa
    Wapello County
    726 MW

    ...and 11 more

    30 gas plants

    Name: Marshalltown Generating Station County: Marshall Megawatt Capacity: 709 Utility: Interstate Power and Light Co

    Marshalltown Generating Station
    Marshall County
    709 MW

    Name: Emery Station County: Cerro Gordo Megawatt Capacity: 603 Utility: Interstate Power and Light Co

    Emery Station
    Cerro Gordo County
    603 MW

    Name: Greater Des Moines Energy Center County: Polk Megawatt Capacity: 576 Utility: MidAmerican Energy Co

    Greater Des Moines Energy Center
    Polk County
    576 MW

    Name: Electrifarm County: Black Hawk Megawatt Capacity: 264 Utility: MidAmerican Energy Co

    Electrifarm
    Black Hawk County
    264 MW

    ...and 26 more

    84 oil plants

    Name: Lime Creek County: Cerro Gordo Megawatt Capacity: 90 Utility: Interstate Power and Light Co

    Lime Creek
    Cerro Gordo County
    90 MW

    Name: Roquette America County: Lee Megawatt Capacity: 84 Utility: Roquette America

    Roquette America
    Lee County
    84 MW

    Name: Dayton Avenue Substation County: Story Megawatt Capacity: 79 Utility: City of Ames - (IA)

    Dayton Avenue Substation
    Story County
    79 MW

    Name: Indianola County: Warren Megawatt Capacity: 55 Utility: Indianola Municipal Utilities

    Indianola
    Warren County
    55 MW

    ...and 80 more

    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 4,000 megawatt (MW)  of wind power and 4,000 MW of solar power.

    Since the average wind turbine provides 2.75 MW of peak capacity, Iowa would need to install about 1,000 turbines.

    Since Iowa already has 4,000 MW of wind and 54 MW of solar, that's -122 MW of wind power we need to build and 4,000 MW of solar power. That's around 0 MW of wind power and 142 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.51% have been electrified, and the remaining 49% are fossil fuel based.MWs of Wind and Solar Built: 51.0%Needed This Year: 1.8%Not Yet: 47.2%

    Source: EIA, Apr 2022

    Decarbonizing all dirty power cuts 21% of the pollution.

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

    🏭 Other: 56%🔌 Power: 21%🚗 Transport: 15%🏠 Buildings: 7%

    Other Emissions

    🏭 Other: 56%🔌 Power: 21%🚗 Transport: 15%🏠 Buildings: 7%

    The last 56% of Iowa'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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