In the US, electricity generation is responsible for 40% of the carbon footprint from energy consumption.  Over 2200 million metric tons of CO2 are poured into the atmosphere every year from US electricity generation stations.  One of the saddest facts is that, 2/3 of the electricity generated is lost in its transmission: it never even gets to an outlet. 
In Albuquerque, New Mexico, electricity comes from:
 Coal: 48%
 Nuclear: 19%
 Oil and Gas: 24%
 Renewables: 8% (mostly from the wind generation facility in Eastern NM owned by Florida Power and Light)
 Purchases: 13% (assumed to be from 50% coal and 22% nuclear)

Grid-tied distributed solar electricity has many environmental benefits:
1. Electricity generated from the sun has no emissions whereas typical electricity is responsible for 1.4 pounds of C02 for each kWh produced as well as other Greenhouse Gases.
2. The lifecycle CO2 emissions from the manufacture, transportation and installation related to all the parts of a solar system will pay for itself in 2-5 years of operation.
3. The transmission losses from electricity generated 100 feet away from end use are minimal compared to the 67% transmission losses from generating stations hundreds of miles away
4. .4 gallons of water per kWh generated are saved when we produce electricity from the sun, compared to typical electricity generation which requires steam turbines to produce electricity.