Currently, Colorado has 12 coal plants which emit 47,200,000 tons of C02 emissions per year, ranking Colorado 23rd among power-related carbon emissions for all US states. Of these 12 coal plants, Xcel Energy operates 6.  By 2020, Colorado greenhouse gas emissions are project to reach 71% above 1990 levels.

Why it’s important

Electricity Generation and Coal Use in Colorado:

• 82 % of the state’s electricity is produced by coal fired power plants, which released 36,000,000 tons of carbon dioxide(CO2), 132,000 tons of NOx, and 86,000 tons of SO2 in 1999.
• In Colorado, total CO2 emissions from coal-fired power plants are approximately 15 times greater than emissions from natural gas-fired power plants.
• Due to Colorado’s reliance on coal, its CO2 emission factor of 1.93 lb/kWh is relatively high compared to the U.S. average of1.34 lb/kWh.
• Electrical power plants are also major contributors to releases of air toxics in the state (31 percent of total reported in 2000), particularly for mercury and dioxin.
• Overall, electric utilities were responsible for 47.5 percent of the CO2 equivalent emissions in Colorado in 1990. Most of the 1,126,000 MM Btu’s of fuel consumed in Colorado in 1999 were used for electricity generation(34 percent) and transportation (32 percent).
• When coal is burned, it emits 70 percent more carbon dioxide per Btu of energy produced than natural gas.