Nebraska

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

Emissions in Nebraska

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

Nebraska's climate pollution, by source
🏭 Other: 55%🔌 Power: 24%🚗 Transport: 15%🏠 Buildings: 5%

Source: WRI, Mar 2021

    Decarbonize Our Buildings

    🏭 Other: 55%🔌 Power: 24%🚗 Transport: 15%🏠 Buildings: 5%

    5% of Nebraska'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 Nebraska's 1.2 million buildings.

    In fact, 34.8% of appliances in buildings in Nebraska are already fossil fuel free!

    That means we only need to electrify the remaining 774,000 dirty buildings in Nebraska. That's around 29,000 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.34.84% have been electrified, and the remaining 65.16% are fossil fuel based.Appliances Electrified: 34.8%Needed This Year: 2.4%Not Yet: 62.7%Source: Microsoft, Mar 2021; NREL, Dec 2021

    Electrifying all buildings cuts 5% of the pollution.

    🏭 Other: 55%🔌 Power: 24%🚗 Transport: 15%🏠 Buildings: 5%

    Decarbonize Our Transport

    🏭 Other: 55%🔌 Power: 24%🚗 Transport: 15%🏠 Buildings: 5%

    15% of Nebraska'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 625,000 vehicles in Nebraska and 2,000 are already electric (0.3% of the total).

    We need to electrify (or replace) the remaining 623,000 gas-powered vehicles. That's around 23,000 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 15% of the pollution.

    🏭 Other: 55%🔌 Power: 24%🚗 Transport: 15%🏠 Buildings: 5%

    Decarbonize Our Power

    🏭 Other: 55%🔌 Power: 24%🚗 Transport: 15%🏠 Buildings: 5%

    24% of Nebraska'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 Nebraska

    10 coal plants

    Name: Nebraska City Station County: Otoe Megawatt Capacity: 1,390 Utility: Omaha Public Power District

    Nebraska City Station
    Otoe County
    1,390 MW

    Name: Gerald Gentleman Station County: Lincoln Megawatt Capacity: 1,363 Utility: Nebraska Public Power District

    Gerald Gentleman Station
    Lincoln County
    1,363 MW

    Name: North Omaha Station County: Douglas Megawatt Capacity: 645 Utility: Omaha Public Power District

    North Omaha Station
    Douglas County
    645 MW

    Name: Gerald Whelan Energy Center County: Adams Megawatt Capacity: 324 Utility: City of Hastings - (NE)

    Gerald Whelan Energy Center
    Adams County
    324 MW

    Name: Sheldon County: Lancaster Megawatt Capacity: 229 Utility: Nebraska Public Power District

    Sheldon
    Lancaster County
    229 MW

    Name: Lon D Wright Power Plant County: Dodge Megawatt Capacity: 213 Utility: City of Fremont - (NE)

    Lon D Wright Power Plant
    Dodge County
    213 MW

    Name: Platte County: Hall Megawatt Capacity: 110 Utility: City of Grand Island - (NE)

    Platte
    Hall County
    110 MW

    Name: Archer Daniels Midland Columbus County: Platte Megawatt Capacity: 71 Utility: Archer Daniels Midland Co

    Archer Daniels Midland Columbus
    Platte County
    71 MW

    Name: Archer Daniels Midland Lincoln County: Lancaster Megawatt Capacity: 8 Utility: Archer Daniels Midland Co

    Archer Daniels Midland Lincoln
    Lancaster County
    8 MW

    Name: Western Sugar Coop - Scottsbluff County: Scotts Bluff Megawatt Capacity: 5 Utility: Western Sugar Cooperative

    Western Sugar Coop - Scottsbluff
    Scotts Bluff County
    5 MW

    30 gas plants

    Name: Cass County Station County: Cass Megawatt Capacity: 345 Utility: Omaha Public Power District

    Cass County Station
    Cass County
    345 MW

    Name: Sarpy County Station County: Sarpy Megawatt Capacity: 338 Utility: Omaha Public Power District

    Sarpy County Station
    Sarpy County
    338 MW

    Name: Rokeby County: Lancaster Megawatt Capacity: 266 Utility: Lincoln Electric System

    Rokeby
    Lancaster County
    266 MW

    Name: Beatrice County: Gage Megawatt Capacity: 247 Utility: Nebraska Public Power District

    Beatrice
    Gage County
    247 MW

    ...and 26 more

    20 oil plants

    Name: Jones Street County: Douglas Megawatt Capacity: 130 Utility: Omaha Public Power District

    Jones Street
    Douglas County
    130 MW

    Name: Hebron Peaking County: Thayer Megawatt Capacity: 57 Utility: Nebraska Public Power District

    Hebron Peaking
    Thayer County
    57 MW

    Name: McCook Peaking County: Red Willow Megawatt Capacity: 57 Utility: Nebraska Public Power District

    McCook Peaking
    Red Willow County
    57 MW

    Name: Wayne IC County: Wayne Megawatt Capacity: 22 Utility: City of Wayne

    Wayne IC
    Wayne County
    22 MW

    ...and 16 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 3,000 megawatt (MW)  of wind power and 3,000 MW of solar power.

    Since the average wind turbine provides 2.75 MW of peak capacity, Nebraska would need to install about 963 turbines.

    Since Nebraska already has 1,000 MW of wind and 9 MW of solar, that's 2,000 MW of wind power we need to build and 3,000 MW of solar power. That's around 57 MW of wind power and 97 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.21% have been electrified, and the remaining 79% are fossil fuel based.MWs of Wind and Solar Built: 21.0%Needed This Year: 2.9%Not Yet: 76.1%

    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: 55%🔌 Power: 24%🚗 Transport: 15%🏠 Buildings: 5%

    Other Emissions

    🏭 Other: 55%🔌 Power: 24%🚗 Transport: 15%🏠 Buildings: 5%

    The last 55% of Nebraska'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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