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comment ACEEE Announces Three-Way Tie for Most Efficient State
California, Connecticut, and Vermont tied for top billing in a recently released scorecard of state energy-efficiency policies. Published by the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE), the report was supported by a grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Flex Your Power is California's statewide energy-efficiency marketing and outreach campaign. Initiated in 2001, the program is a partnership of California's utilities, residents, businesses, institutions, government agencies, and nonprofit organizations working to save energy. Efforts like this helped California earn one of the top spots in ACEEE’s recent ranking of state energy-efficiency policies.
Based on what you have seen and read about this project, how would you grade it? Use the stars below to indicate your assessment, five stars being the highest rating.
ACEEE intended the report to document best practices, recognize leadership among states, and encourage lagging states to improve their policies. Noting that states spend about three times as much as the federal government does on energy-efficiency programs and are leading the way on appliance standards, building codes, and other policies, ACEEE also hoped that the report would invigorate federal action. “The message that comes from the states’ patchwork approach to energy-efficiency standards and practices is that the time is long overdue for the federal government and the nation to get moving to close the gaps in our nation’s energy policy through which our energy security and our efforts to curb global warming are undermined,” says Bill Prindle, acting executive director of ACEEE and coauthor of the scorecard.
ACEEE assessed the performance of each state and the District of Columbia in eight categories: spending on utility and public benefits energy-efficiency programs, energy-efficiency resource standards, combined heat and power, building energy codes, transportation policies, appliance and equipment efficiency standards, tax incentives, and state facilities, equipment procurement, and research and development. The categories were weighted based on potential to save energy. As a result, up to 15 points were available for “spending on utility and public benefits energy-efficiency programs,” while the other categories were worth three or five points apiece.
Out of the theoretical maximum score of 44 points, the three top states each scored 33. Massachusetts, Oregon, Washington, New York, New Jersey, Rhode Island, and Minnesota rounded out the top ten, with scores in the twenties. “The top states are generally characterized by having limited in-state supplies of conventional fossil energy resources,” notes ACEEE. These states offer their citizens a range of benefits, according to the organization, including: more sustainable rates of growth in energy demand; reduced risk of price increases and price volatility; lower total energy bills; reduced risk of blackouts and energy shortages; minimized need for controversial, expensive, and environmentally damaging energy-supply projects; a stimulus for the state economy; and cuts in emissions of air pollutants and greenhouse gases.
The states with the worst scores, on the other hand, “have been typically endowed with abundant amounts of traditional energy sources that have been historically inexpensive,” notes ACEEE. The bottom ten, with scores of five or lower, are Alaska, Tennessee, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Missouri, Alabama, South Dakota, Mississippi, Wyoming, and, with a score of just 0.5 points, North Dakota. These states, according to ACEEE, “put their energy markets at risk for higher prices and total bills, blackouts or other shortages, and environmental damage.”
Summary: A report recently released by the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy rates states’ progress in a range of energy-efficiency categories. California, Connecticut, and Vermont tied for first place.
This article was produced by BuildingGreen, Inc.- www.buildinggreen.com
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