by Shane Henson — May 23, 2012—Many of the states that have historically lagged behind others in the area of energy efficiency have demonstrated substantial improvement, says the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE), a nonprofit organization that acts as a catalyst to advance energy efficiency policies, programs, technologies, investments, and behaviors. While these states must still address numerous barriers to energy efficiency, the ACEEE says a real window of opportunity exists to further move efficiency forward, as detailed in the council’s new report, Opportunity Knocks: Examining Low-Ranking States in the State Energy Efficiency Scorecard.
According to the ACEEE, the report draws on a series of in-depth interviews with stakeholders in states ranked in the bottom 10 of the 2011 State Energy Efficiency Scorecard: Alabama, Kansas, Mississippi, Missouri, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, West Virginia, and Wyoming. The findings and recommendations of the report are applicable to numerous other states struggling to advance energy efficiency.
Despite their low rankings in the Scorecard, each of the states examined in the report have successfully improved their energy efficiency in at least some way, notes the ACEEE. For example, Oklahoma Governor Mary Fallin recently signed into law energy efficiency legislation that directs all state agencies and higher education institutions to achieve at least 20 percent improvement in energy efficiency by 2020.
Other states are beginning to realize the benefits from energy efficiency. In addition to Oklahoma, Alabama and South Carolina recently passed statewide building energy codes to ensure new homes and buildings are built to save energy from the start. A number of states, notably Kansas, have solid programs in place to plan and finance energy efficiency improvements in state government facilities.
While many more opportunities remain for these states, numerous barriers are holding up progress on energy efficiency, says the ACEEE. The most notable barrier is the perception that energy efficiency costs more than it is worth.
“States have a great opportunity knocking at their doors. Energy efficiency is an investment, and like any investment, there is a cost and return. Our research shows that the benefits of energy efficiency improvements substantially outweigh their costs in the long run and deserve attention from utilities and state governments seeking to lower energy costs for consumers,” said Michael Sciortino, ACEEE senior analyst and lead author of the report.
The report finds that a number of actions can advance energy efficiency and do not require major government spending or regulatory action. Like Oklahoma, states can “lead by example” by advancing energy efficiency projects in government facilities as well as at universities and schools using innovative financing methods that allow projects to be paid for by using the savings generated by the installed energy efficiency measures, notes the ACEEE.
States can also adopt and enforce building energy codes, implement utility-sector energy efficiency programs where such programs cost less than building new power plants, and support deployment of combined heat and power projects.
