Power Sector Opportunities Reducing Carbon Dioxide Emissions Pennsylvania

WRI analysis indicates that Pennsylvania can reduce its power plant CO2 emissions by 21 percent below 2011 levels by 2020 using existing policies and infrastructure. This would meet or exceed moderately ambitious EPA standards, which are estimated to require reductions between 22 and 31 percent. Key opportunities include meeting alternative energy and energy efficiency targets, increasing the use of combined heat and power (CHP) and natural gas combined cycle (NGCC) plants, and improving coal plant efficiency.

• Pennsylvania has the potential to reduce its CO2 emissions by 21 percent below 2011 levels by 2020, which would align with or exceed moderately ambitious EPA power plant emissions standards that might require reductions between 22 and 31 percent.
• Existing policy targets offer significant reduction potential: meeting the alternative energy standard (requiring 8 percent renewable electricity by 2021) could reduce emissions by 4 percent, and meeting energy efficiency standards could reduce them by 11 percent, both relative to 2011 levels by 2020.
• Infrastructure-based opportunities include a 3 percent reduction from increasing combined heat and power (CHP) use by 26 percent, a 3 percent reduction from running existing natural gas combined cycle (NGCC) plants at 75 percent, and a 2 percent reduction from increasing coal plant efficiency by 2.5 percent.
• To prepare for more stringent EPA standards, Pennsylvania could cost-effectively expand its energy efficiency standard beyond 2016 to target annual energy reductions of 1.5–2 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} }