PROVIDENCE – Rhode Island was tied with Vermont, ranking third in the nation this year in energy efficiency, a new report shows.
Overall, the New England region performed well, with all six states ranking in the top 20 in the 2019 State Energy Efficiency Scorecard, released this week by the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy.
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Rhode Island maintained its third place rank from last year’s report.
Massachusetts and California ranked first and second, respectively, both this year and last year. Vermont moved up one spot from last year, tied in third place with Rhode Island.
Connecticut ranked sixth this year, down one spot from last year. Maine ranked No. 15 this year, also a decline of one spot from last year. And New Hampshire ranked No. 20 this year, an improvement of one spot from last year.
The annual scorecard serves as a progress report on state policies and programs that save energy while producing environmental and economic benefits.
“The Scorecard shows that energy efficiency is a key source nationwide, with utilities spending approximately $8 billion in 2018 for efficiency programs and saving 27.1 million megawatt hours of electricity,” the council said.
States are ranked in six categories – utility programs, transportation, building energy codes, combined heat and power, state initiatives, and appliance standards.
In the category of utility and public benefits programs and policies, Rhode Island received 20 out of a possible 20 points.
For transportation policies, Rhode Island received six out of a possible 10 points.
For building energy efficiency policies, Rhode Island received 5.5 out of a possible eight points.
Additionally, Rhode Island received three out of a possible three points for combined heat and power; and six out of a possible six points for state government initiatives.
The one weak point for Rhode Island was appliance efficiency standards, for which the state received zero out of a possible three points.
Rhode Island total score was 40.5 out of a possible 50 points, down a half-point from last year. In comparison, California was second with 43.5 points and Massachusetts was first with 44.5 points.
The bottom three states were Louisiana and West Virginia [tied with 6.5 total points of a possible 50 points], North Dakota with 5 total points and Wyoming with 4.5 total points.
National Grid was pleased with the 2019 report, as its service area covers both Massachusetts and Rhode Island, as well as New York, which ranked fifth.
“Energy efficiency programs and products are an easy and effective way for all of our 7 million customers across Mass., R.I., and N.Y. to participate in our clean energy transition,” Dean Seavers, president of National Grid U.S., said in a statement.
“National Grid is proud that our energy efficiency programs reduced carbon emissions by over 1.1 million metric tons in 2018, the equivalent of removing over 233,000 cars off the road, a major step forward in achieving a deeply decarbonized energy future,” Seavers said.
Scott Blake is a PBN staff writer. Email him at Blake@PBN.com.
