The choices we face around energy are complex.
The second-largest producer of energy in the United States, Pennsylvania has played a pivotal role across three energy revolutions in coal, oil, and natural gas. The commonwealth is today positioned to lead a fourth revolution in low-carbon energy technologies.
The need and opportunities inherent in decarbonization present a tremendous opportunity to transform our economy, elevate industry and manufacturing, create jobs, and reduce emissions. Increasingly, other states are beginning to undertake this work as the nation more seriously contemplates how to navigate to a lower carbon economy. Pennsylvania must ensure that we are not left behind or playing catch up when there is a compelling case that action is needed now to capitalize on these opportunities right here.
The Pennsylvania Energy Horizons Cross-Sector Collaborative is charting a path forward for economy-wide decarbonization. This statewide public-private network brings together leaders from industry, labor, government, nonprofits, and academia to unleash innovative, technological, and market-driven solutions to reduce emissions economy-wide while expanding the Commonwealth’s clean energy economy. Currently, the Collaborative’s work is focused on two strategies that promote decarbonization: carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS), and hydrogen.
Key Statistics on Pennsylvania’s Energy Industry:
Pennsylvania's marketed natural gas production, primarily from the Marcellus Shale, reached a record 7.6 trillion cubic feet in 2021, and the state is the nation's second-largest natural gas producer after Texas.
Pennsylvania is the third-largest coal-producing state in the nation after Wyoming and West Virginia, and it is the second-largest coal exporter to foreign markets after West Virginia.
In 2021, Pennsylvania ranked second in the nation after Illinois in electricity generation from nuclear power. However, since 2019 natural gas has surpassed nuclear energy as the largest source of in-state electricity generation.
Two-thirds of Pennsylvania households use natural gas as their primary home heating fuel, and the state's 48 underground gas storage sites--the most for any state--help meet regional heating demand in winter.
Cross-sector collaborative
The Pennsylvania Energy Horizons Cross-Sector Collaborative, convened by Team Pennsylvania, is a network of private and public stakeholder organizations committed to reducing carbon emissions economy-wide while expanding the commonwealth's clean energy economy.
CCUS & HYDROGEN
The science of decarbonization and a roadmap for the deployment of these technologies in Pennsylvania.
Scenario Planning
Learn about Pennsylvania’s earlier work to plan for a changing energy system, including two different scenarios – Rivers and Roots – that highlight how different decisions could take Pennsylvania’s energy future along divergent paths.
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