California is the top state in requiring energy efficiency in buildings and power consumption, followed by Massachusetts, Connecticut, Oregon and New York
On the bottom of the list are Wyoming (the worst of the worst), North Dakota and Mississippi (only slightly better than Wyoming) Alabama, Nebraska, West Virginia and Alaska and Georgia. Next in line are Arkansas, Missouri and Louisiana.
States making the biggest improvements were Maine, Colorado and Delaware
This according to the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy, which released a state-by-state scorecard. The rankings are based an analysis of building codes, government initiatives, appliance efficiency standards, utility programs and transportation policies.
According to the analysis, the states making the biggest gains in the past year were Maine, Colorado, Delaware, South Dakota, Tennessee and the District of Columbia.
In Delaware, new legislation requires the state to reduce energy consumption through efficiency 15 percent by 2015. Included in the effort are new building codes that make it easier to adopt solar and wind power by allowing people and businesses to sell excess power back to the grid.
Investments in energy efficiency create jobs and steer dollars away from wasted energy to more constructive uses, says Governor Jack Markell.
What I want to know is why so many southern states are at the bottom of the list when air conditioning is such a sizeable chunk of their energy bills? Is global warming not happening down there?
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