Remove 2022 Remove Carbon Dioxide Remove Nitrogen Oxides
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A 100% Renewable Energy Future is Possible, and We Need It

Union of Concerned Scientists

Sulfur dioxide (SO 2 ) and nitrogen oxides (NO x ) emissions from power plants in USCA states fall 88 and 77 percent respectively by 2040, compared with 27 and 18 percent under current policies and plans. Just as important, cleaning up the power grid can also decrease carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) emissions.

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Ask a Scientist: Gas Plants Disproportionately Harm Marginalized Communities

Union of Concerned Scientists

Responsible for 12 percent of all US global warming emissions from human activities, methane traps significantly more heat per molecule than carbon dioxide, making it 86 times more harmful for the first 20 years after it is released into the atmosphere. Its primary component is methane. First, there’s air pollution.

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Too Many Gas Power Plants are the Problem Not the Solution

Union of Concerned Scientists

Yet, in 2022, almost 40% of electricity in the US was generated by power plants fueled by natural gas. As of 2022, there were approximately 2,000 gas power plants with a combined capacity of 500 gigawatts on the grid. Between 2000 and 2022, gas capacity has grown more than four-fold with a big uptick coming online in the early 2000s.

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Reliance on Gas Power Plants Fuels Inequity

Union of Concerned Scientists

Most notable of these polluting emissions are nitrogen oxides (NOx). Climate impacts The power sector accounts for approximately 25% of heat-trapping emissions in the United States, with gas plants accounting for 45% of carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) in the power industry.

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Good News—and Bad—about Fossil Fuel Power Plants in 2023 

Union of Concerned Scientists

In 2021 alone, the plants slated for retirement emitted more than 28,000 tonnes of nitrogen oxides (NO x ), 32,000 tonnes of sulfur dioxide (SO 2 ), and 51 million tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO 2 ), according to EIA data.

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Oil Refineries: A Deadly Industry

Union of Concerned Scientists

Examples are benzene, hydrofluoric acid, particulate matter, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, and many, many other toxic pollutants. In 2022, the transportation sector was responsible for 28 percent of global warming pollution in the country. Refining uses many risky industrial processes. See the pie charts below.

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DEP Awards $1.5 Million To Help Municipalities, Schools, Businesses Switch To Clean Transportation

PA Environment Daily

million in 2022 Alternative Fuels Incentive Grant funding to help municipalities, schools, and businesses around the state switch to clean transportation and improve air quality in their communities. It also helps lower the level of carbon dioxide, one of the greenhouse gases heating up the climate, in the air.