Power Sector Opportunities Reducing Carbon Dioxide Emissions Pennsylvania

This fact sheet by the World Resources Institute analyzes how Pennsylvania can utilize existing policies and infrastructure to reduce power plant carbon dioxide emissions to meet potential EPA standards.

• Based on two hypothetical standards, Pennsylvania would need to reduce CO2 emissions by 22 to 31 percent below 2011 levels by 2020. WRI analysis indicates the state can achieve a 21 percent reduction below 2011 levels by 2020, which would meet or exceed moderately ambitious EPA standards.
• Existing policy targets can contribute significantly to emissions reductions: meeting the alternative energy standard (requiring 8 percent renewable electricity by 2021) could reduce CO2 emissions by 4 percent below 2011 levels in 2020, and meeting energy efficiency standards could reduce them by 11 percent below 2011 levels in 2020.
• Infrastructure-based opportunities for CO2 reduction by 2020 include: a 3 percent reduction from increasing combined heat and power (CHP) use by 26 percent; a 3 percent reduction by running existing combined cycle (NGCC) natural gas plants at 75 percent capacity; and a 2 percent reduction by increasing coal plant efficiency by 2.5 percent.
• To prepare for potentially more stringent EPA standards, Pennsylvania could expand its energy efficiency standard beyond 2016 to target annual energy reductions between 1.5 and 2 percent.

APA

World Resources Institute (n.d.). Power Sector Opportunities Reducing Carbon Dioxide Emissions Pennsylvania. https://www.wri.org/research/power-sector-opportunities-reducing-carbon-dioxide-emissions-pennsylvania

Chicago

World Resources Institute. Power Sector Opportunities Reducing Carbon Dioxide Emissions Pennsylvania. n.d. https://www.wri.org/research/power-sector-opportunities-reducing-carbon-dioxide-emissions-pennsylvania.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=World Resources Institute |title=Power Sector Opportunities Reducing Carbon Dioxide Emissions Pennsylvania |url=https://www.wri.org/research/power-sector-opportunities-reducing-carbon-dioxide-emissions-pennsylvania |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{worldresourcesinstitutendpower, author = {{World Resources Institute}}, title = {{Power Sector Opportunities Reducing Carbon Dioxide Emissions Pennsylvania}}, institution = {World Resources Institute}, url = {https://www.wri.org/research/power-sector-opportunities-reducing-carbon-dioxide-emissions-pennsylvania}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }