Tennessee

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

Emissions in Tennessee

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

Tennessee's climate pollution, by source
🏭 Other: 33%🔌 Power: 21%🚗 Transport: 38%🏠 Buildings: 8%

Source: WRI, Mar 2021

    Decarbonize Our Buildings

    🏭 Other: 33%🔌 Power: 21%🚗 Transport: 38%🏠 Buildings: 8%

    8% of Tennessee'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 Tennessee's 3.2 million buildings.

    In fact, 57.6% of appliances in buildings in Tennessee are already fossil fuel free!

    That means we only need to electrify the remaining 1.4 million dirty buildings in Tennessee. That's around 50,000 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.57.62% have been electrified, and the remaining 42.38% are fossil fuel based.Appliances Electrified: 57.6%Needed This Year: 1.6%Not Yet: 40.8%Source: Microsoft, Mar 2021; NREL, Dec 2021

    Electrifying all buildings cuts 8% of the pollution.

    🏭 Other: 33%🔌 Power: 21%🚗 Transport: 38%🏠 Buildings: 8%

    Decarbonize Our Transport

    🏭 Other: 33%🔌 Power: 21%🚗 Transport: 38%🏠 Buildings: 8%

    38% of Tennessee'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 2.1 million vehicles in Tennessee and 8,000 are already electric (0.4% of the total).

    We need to electrify (or replace) the remaining 2.1 million gas-powered vehicles. That's around 78,000 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.0.4% have been electrified, and the remaining 99.6% are fossil fuel based.Vehicles Electrified: 0.4%Needed This Year: 3.7%Not Yet: 95.9%Source: DOT, Feb 2021

    Electrifying all transportation cuts 38% of the pollution.

    🏭 Other: 33%🔌 Power: 21%🚗 Transport: 38%🏠 Buildings: 8%

    Decarbonize Our Power

    🏭 Other: 33%🔌 Power: 21%🚗 Transport: 38%🏠 Buildings: 8%

    21% of Tennessee'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 Tennessee

    5 coal plants

    Name: Cumberland County: Stewart Megawatt Capacity: 2,600 Utility: Tennessee Valley Authority

    Cumberland
    Stewart County
    2,600 MW

    Name: Gallatin County: Sumner Megawatt Capacity: 1,918 Utility: Tennessee Valley Authority

    Gallatin
    Sumner County
    1,918 MW

    Name: Kingston County: Roane Megawatt Capacity: 1,700 Utility: Tennessee Valley Authority

    Kingston
    Roane County
    1,700 MW

    Name: Bull Run County: Anderson Megawatt Capacity: 950 Utility: Tennessee Valley Authority

    Bull Run
    Anderson County
    950 MW

    Name: Eastman Chemical Company County: Sullivan Megawatt Capacity: 194 Utility: Eastman Chemical Co-TN Ops

    Eastman Chemical Company
    Sullivan County
    194 MW

    12 gas plants

    Name: Johnsonville County: Humphreys Megawatt Capacity: 2,911 Utility: Tennessee Valley Authority

    Johnsonville
    Humphreys County
    2,911 MW

    Name: Allen County: Shelby Megawatt Capacity: 2,782 Utility: Tennessee Valley Authority

    Allen
    Shelby County
    2,782 MW

    Name: John Sevier County: Hawkins Megawatt Capacity: 1,797 Utility: Tennessee Valley Authority

    John Sevier
    Hawkins County
    1,797 MW

    Name: Lagoon Creek County: Haywood Megawatt Capacity: 1,625 Utility: Tennessee Valley Authority

    Lagoon Creek
    Haywood County
    1,625 MW

    Name: Gleason Combustion Turbine Plant County: Weakley Megawatt Capacity: 568 Utility: Tennessee Valley Authority

    Gleason Combustion Turbine Plant
    Weakley County
    568 MW

    Name: Brownsville Combustion Turbine Plant County: Haywood Megawatt Capacity: 460 Utility: Tennessee Valley Authority

    Brownsville Combustion Turbine Plant
    Haywood County
    460 MW

    Name: Tate & Lyle Loudon Plant County: Loudon Megawatt Capacity: 61 Utility: Tate and Lyle Ingredients, LLC

    Tate & Lyle Loudon Plant
    Loudon County
    61 MW

    Name: Vanderbilt University Power Plant County: Davidson Megawatt Capacity: 35 Utility: Vanderbilt University

    Vanderbilt University Power Plant
    Davidson County
    35 MW

    Name: MTSU Power Co-Gen Plant County: Rutherford Megawatt Capacity: 15 Utility: Middle Tennessee State University

    MTSU Power Co-Gen Plant
    Rutherford County
    15 MW

    Name: Mountain Home Energy Center County: Washington Megawatt Capacity: 7 Utility: Energy Systems Group LLC

    Mountain Home Energy Center
    Washington County
    7 MW

    Name: University of Tennessee Steam Plant County: Knox Megawatt Capacity: 5 Utility: University of Tennessee

    University of Tennessee Steam Plant
    Knox County
    5 MW

    Name: Opryland USA County: Davidson Megawatt Capacity: 5 Utility: Gaylord Entertainment Co

    Opryland USA
    Davidson County
    5 MW

    2 oil plants

    Name: McMinnville County: Warren Megawatt Capacity: 24 Utility: McMinnville Electric System

    McMinnville
    Warren County
    24 MW

    Name: Powell Valley County: Hancock Megawatt Capacity: 22 Utility: Powell Valley Electric Coop

    Powell Valley
    Hancock County
    22 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 6,000 megawatt (MW)  of wind power and 6,000 MW of solar power.

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

    Since Tennessee already has 5 MW of wind and 48 MW of solar, that's 6,000 MW of wind power we need to build and 6,000 MW of solar power. That's around 217 MW of wind power and 224 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.1% have been electrified, and the remaining 99% are fossil fuel based.MWs of Wind and Solar Built: 1.0%Needed This Year: 3.7%Not Yet: 95.3%

    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: 33%🔌 Power: 21%🚗 Transport: 38%🏠 Buildings: 8%

    Other Emissions

    🏭 Other: 33%🔌 Power: 21%🚗 Transport: 38%🏠 Buildings: 8%

    The last 33% of Tennessee'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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