Thursday, October 20, 2011

Report: Mass. leads U.S. in state energy efficiency rankings

By Michelle Lang

Massachusetts has grabbed the top spot, for the first time, in a scorecard ranking by the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE) of U.S. states based on energy efficiency policy and program implementation. Vermont, Rhode Island and Connecticut also made the cut for the top 10 states.

The ACEEE released the results of its annual State Energy Efficiency Scorecard today. The report is designed to evaluate state policy issues in six areas: utility and public benefits programs and policies; transportation policies; building energy codes; combined heat and power; state government initiatives; and appliance efficiency standards.

Overall results of the scorecard showed that state budgets for electricity efficiency programs increased by $3.4 billion from 2009 to 2010, equaling about $5.5 billion. Residential and commercial building codes that include energy-saving measures have seen progress in 29 states in 2010, up from 20 states in 2009. And 24 states have added an Energy Efficiency Resource Standard to provide long-term energy goals and strategies.

“Through our Green Communities Act, we set aggressive goals and laid the foundation for greater investment in energy efficiency -- and now we are proud to be a model for the nation and world,” Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick said in a statement.

Top ten ACEEE energy efficiency states are as follows:

1. Massachusetts
2. California
3. New York
4. Oregon
5. Vermont
6. Washington
7. Rhode Island
8. Minnesota
9. Connecticut
10. Maryland

The bottom of the energy efficiency list included:

50. North Dakota
49. Wyoming
48. Mississippi
47. Kansas
46. Oklahoma
45. South Carolina
44. West Virginia
43. Missouri
42. Alabama
41. South Dakota