RMI Outlet

A tenth of total US carbon emissions come from burning fossil fuels – primarily gas – for heating and cooking in homes and businesses. While most people don’t think twice about using these appliances, the emissions they produce are a threat to climate action and public health. Cities have begun taking steps to eliminate fossil fuels in buildings, but far more must be done to stop the spread of gas infrastructure and eliminate these emissions.

This fact base offers a crash course in direct building emissions, showing where they come from and how they fit into the overall emissions picture in the US. These data and charts also provide an understanding of the utilities and infrastructure that deliver gas, the buildings and appliances that use it, and implications for air quality and human health. Click the ‘Download’ button above for the full report as both a PDF and PPT.

Select your state in the dropdown below to explore: where natural gas is used in your state, the number of homes and businesses using gas, the sources of greenhouse gas emissions in your state by sector and fuel, and the dominant home heating sources in your state. All of the data is available for download. We hope you will use it to better understand the impact of fossil fuels in buildings, and share with others.

Learn more about how this problem impacts you:

• Fossil Gas Has No Future in Low-Carbon Buildings by Mark Silberg
• A New Approach to America’s Rapidly Aging Gas Infrastructure by Mike Henchen and Kiley Kroh

With today’s electric grid, building electrification reduces greenhouse gas emissions

Select your state below to see how it compares nationally.

10 states are responsible for 56% of direct building emissions nationally

Gas distribution system expenditures have tripled between 2009 and 2017, to $14.9 billion per year