Commentary

Not so fast.  It turns out that if you look at electricity generation state by state, there are huge differences.  For example, the electricity generated in Vermont only creates 6 pounds of CO2 per megawatt hour!  That’s enough electricity to run a house for a year.  6 pounds of CO2 is what your car creates during 1 trip to the grocery store.

Compare Vermont’s 6 pounds of CO2 to Wyoming’s 2,277 pounds of CO2 per megawatt hour.  Massachusetts is 1,193 pounds per megawatt hour.

The difference comes from how the power plants in each state produce electricity.  Vermont uses predominantly nuclear, hydro and renewables.  Wyoming, the Saudi Arabia of coal, uses predominantly coal-fired power plants.

This is why EnergyRace asks you what state you live in when you sign up.  I wanted to factor the relative cleanliness of your electricity into the CO2 calculations.