R.I. ranks third on state energy efficiency scorecard

PROVIDENCE – Rhode Island is one of the most energy efficient states, tying with Oregon and Vermont for the No. 3 spot on a State Energy Efficiency Scorecard released on Wednesday by the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy.
The state earned 37.5 points out of a possible 50, two points more than it earned in 2013. Its utility policies and programs earned it a perfect score, tying Massachusetts as the leading state in that category.
“Utilities in the state devote notable levels of funding to electricity and natural gas programs, and this year the state achieved electricity savings of over 2 percent of sales. Rhode Island has set aggressive energy savings targets as part of its energy efficiency resource standard, which includes both electricity and natural gas,” the report reads.

“Rhode Island has always ranked highly in the State Scorecard, but made significant headway this year in
large part due to the effort utilities put into generating energy savings. Rhode Island’s energy savings targets ensure that the state will continue to see high levels of savings in coming years. With other states vying for top positions, it will be important for the state to also focus on policies to encourage [combined heat and power] deployment and efficient transportation systems,” it continued.

The scorecard, in its eighth edition, ranked Massachusetts No. 1 and California No. 2. Rounding out the rest of the top 10 were Connecticut, New York, Washington, Maryland and Minnesota.
The five states most in need of improvement are North Dakota, Wyoming, South Dakota, Mississippi and Alaska.

ACEEE State Policy Research Analyst Annie Gilleo, lead author of the 2014 State Energy Efficiency Scorecard, said: “[The State Scorecard]encourages states to continue strengthening their efficiency commitments in order to promote economic growth, secure environmental benefits and increase their communities’ resilience in the face of the uncertain cost and supply of the energy resources on which they depend. The State Scorecard offers a toolkit that policymakers can use to increase energy savings in their state.”

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The State Energy Efficiency Scorecard benchmarks states across six policy areas – utility policies and programs, transportation initiatives, building energy codes, combined heat and power development, state government-led initiatives and state-level appliance standards. In total, states are scored on more than 30 individual metrics. Data is collected from publicly available sources and vetted by state energy offices and public utility commissions.

View the scorecard HERE.

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