Briefing: Energy-Efficient Economy
Massachusetts is the best of the 50 states for having an energy-efficient economy, according to a recently released ranking. The Bay State topped California for the first time in the five years since the American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy (ACEEE) began producing the list. How did Massachusetts get the top ranking and what does it mean?
How are the rankings decided?
States are scored on six categories: utility and public benefit programs and policies; transportation policies; building energy codes; combined heat and power; state government incentives, and appliance efficiency standards. Massachusetts got the top score in three of those categories and an overall score of 45.5 out of 50.
How are the scores determined?
According to the ACEEE, states earn points if they have adopted policies such as updated building energy codes or policies to increase transportation efficiency. States are also benchmarked on the success of state- and utility-driven energy savings programs, as well as the size of the budgets for those programs.
What are the other top states?
California has held the top spot each of the past four years, but dropped to second this year with 44 points. New York, Oregon, Vermont, Washington, Rhode Island, Minnesota, Connecticut and Maryland round out the top 10.
Which states scored in the bottom 10?
North Dakota received the lowest score, followed by Wyoming, Mississippi, Kansas, Oklahoma, South Carolina, West Virginia, Missouri and Alabama.
What are the overall trends recorded by the ACEEE?
State budgets for energy efficiency programs nationwide increased from $3.4 billion in 2009 to $4.5 billion combined in 2010, the ACEEE calculated. Natural gas efficiency programs added another $1 billion. Twenty-nine states have energy-saving building codes, the ACEEE found, up from less than a dozen in 2009.
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