Heat Map

Heat Maps at Different Color Saturation Levels
BiomassLowMediumHigh
CoalLowMediumHigh
GasLowMediumHigh
HydroLowMediumHigh
Trash IncineratorLowMediumHigh
NuclearLowMediumHigh
OilLowMediumHigh


minus iconPolitical Layers
US 2008 Presidential Election
US 2010 Congressional Districts
US County Boundaries


minus iconCoal Layers
Deaths from Coal (CATF)
Coal Ash Waste in Place (tons)
Coal Impoundments with Hazard Rating
Coal Impoundments by Major Rivers


minus iconEnergy Potential Layers
Forest Residue (Per square mile) County Total:
Primary Mill Residue (Per square mile) County Total:
Crop Residue (Per square mile) County Total:
Waste Water Methane Emissions (Per square mile) County Total:
Landfill Methane Emissions (Per square mile) County Total:
Manure Methane Emissions (Per square mile) County Total:
Urban Wood Waste (Per square mile) County Total:
Secondary Mill Residue (Per square mile) County Total:
Total Biomass (Per square mile) County Total:

McNeil Biomass
Wind: Eastern Wind Potential Sites by Capacity Factor (NREL )
Wind: Eastern Wind Potential Sites by Total Power Output (NREL)
Wind: Eastern Wind Potential Offshore Sites (NREL)
Wind: Western Wind Potential Sites (NREL). NOTE: Over 30,000 markers so VERY SLOW. Works better if you zoom in.
Solar: Tilted South Potential. NOTE: over 400,000 data points and it is SLOW. Works better if you zoom in. (NREL)


minus iconCarbon Emissions (source: Vulcan Project)
Total (Per Capita) County Total:
Commercial (Per Capita) County Total:
Industrial (Per Capita) County Total:
Residential (Per Capita) County Total:
Electricity Production (Per Capita) County Total:
Onroad (Per Capita) County Total:
Cement Kilns (Per Capita) County Total:
Aircraft (Per Capita) County Total:
Nonroad (Per Capita) County Total:


minus iconFracking Layers
PA Drilled Wells (data.fractracker.org)
You can download these data layers (KML)

This map runs fastest on Google Chrome: Download




Heat Map Notes
We have created this visualization of the impact of power plants based on their power capacity (MW) and the distance from the facility.

We use the same scale for all facility types. So we treat oil plants the same as coal or biomass. We do this to facilitate comparison. It does not mean that they have the same impact.

This can be seen as the impact of the facility on the community. It shows how impact varies by region and technology. It also shows where people are most likely to fight a facility. The data is from 2011 and the visualization does not reflect our more recent data.

Zooming: if you zoom in too far then the heat map will disappear due to the limits of our data.

Color Saturation: you can see the map at different levels of facility impact. The color is directly proportional to the impact. So at a high level of saturation a layer like coal will 'wash out' as white (the highest impact). For facility types like biomass that have lower MW, it looks better to use medium or high. The lower saturation focuses on how people right next to facilities are impacted. The high saturation focuses on how regions are impacted.