by Brianna Crandall — July 25, 2014—Germany comes in first in a new energy efficiency ranking of the world’s major economies, followed by Italy, the European Union as a whole, China, and France, according to the 2014 International Energy Efficiency Scorecard just published by the nonprofit American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE). New to the rankings this year are four nations: India, Mexico, South Korea, and Spain.
Now in its second edition, the ACEEE report finds that, while some countries are still significantly outperforming others, there are substantial opportunities for improved energy efficiency in all economies analyzed, including the United States, which ranked 13th out of 16 nations—behind countries such as China, Canada, and India. The new carbon pollution standards for existing power plants proposed this June by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) would be a major stride in the direction of greater energy efficiency in the USA, points out ACEEE, and there are dozens of other international best practices that the United States could implement to improve its score.
The rankings are modeled on ACEEE’s time-tested approach to energy efficiency ranking of U.S. states, and include 16 of the world’s largest economies, representing over 81 percent of global gross domestic product and 71 percent of global energy consumption. On a scale of 100 possible points in 31 categories, the nations were ranked as follows: 1/ Germany; 2/ Italy; 3/ the European Union; 4/(tied) China; 4/(tied) France; 6/(tied) Japan; 6/(tied) United Kingdom; 8/ Spain; 9/ Canada; 10/ Australia; 11/ India; 12/ South Korea; 13/ United States; 14/ Russia; 15/ Brazil; and 16/ Mexico.
ACEEE divided the 31 metrics across four groupings: those that track cross-cutting aspects of energy use at the national level, as well as the three sectors primarily responsible for energy consumption in an economically developed country—buildings, industry, and transportation. The top-scoring countries in each grouping are: E.U., France, and Italy (three-way tie for national efforts); China (buildings); Germany (industry); and Italy (transportation).
According to ACEEE, the report raises a critical question: looking forward, how can the United States compete in a global economy if it continues to waste money and energy that other industrialized nations save and can reinvest? In its analysis, ACEEE outlines a number of recommendations for the United States, highlighting four major opportunities for increased energy efficiency: passing a national energy savings target, strengthening national model building energy codes, supporting education and training in the industrial sectors, and prioritizing energy efficiency in transportation spending.
In addition to expanding the list of global economies included in the ranking, changes made since the last Scorecard in 2012 include new metrics that have been added, and several existing metrics that have been improved with better data sources and increased input from country experts. The new metrics include water efficiency policy, agricultural efficiency, building retrofit policies, heavy-duty fuel efficiency standards, and investment in energy efficiency by the private sector.
The ACEEE ranking system looks at both “policy metrics” and “performance metrics” to measure a country’s overall energy efficiency. Examples of “policy metrics” include the presence of a national energy savings target, fuel economy standards for vehicles, and energy efficiency standards for appliances. The “performance metrics” measure energy use and provide quantifiable results. Examples of “performance metrics” include average miles per gallon of on-road passenger vehicles and energy consumed per square foot of floor space in residential buildings.
