The RMI study, "Assessing the Electric Productivity Gap and the U.S. Efficiency Opportunity," [PDF] determines the productivity rate of each state by measuring how much gross domestic product is generated for each kilowatt-hour consumed.
The results varied widely among the states. The five showing the highest electric productivity rates are New York, Alaska, Connecticut, Delaware and California. The bottom five are Idaho, South Carolina, Alabama, Kentucky and, in last place, Mississippi.
If states were brought up to the range of productivity rates attained by the top 10 performers, which the report contends could be achieved through energy efficiency alone, then more than 60 percent of the country's coal-fired generation could be avoided, the study says.
"Closing the electric productivity gap through energy efficiency is the largest near-term opportunity to immediately reduce electricity use and greenhouse gases, and move the United States forward as a leader in the new clean energy economy," Natalie Mims, a consultant on RMI's Energy and Resources Team, said in a statement.
RMI developed an interactive map with its study. To view the map and determine how your state is faring, click here.
Other findings of the study include:
• If the rest of the country achieved the normalized electric productivity of the top performing states, with 100 percent adoption the country would save a total of ~1.2 million gigawatt-hours annually.
• 1.2 million gigawatt-hours amounts to about 30 percent of the country's electricity use, or 62 percent of the nation's coal fired electrical power.
• In 2020, if the United States can on average achieve the electric productivity of the top performing states today, the country can anticipate a 34 percent reduction in projected electricity demandand maintain 2.5 percent annual economic growth.
individual consumption too!
This is great news, as long as we act on it. In addition to the individual and househould carbon emissions, which is 30-40% of US greenhouse gases, simply by making a few changes in how we approach this issue, we can make a real difference in our carbon emissions.
What is necessary for us to do is not a sea change in every way, but often a careful stewardship of the resources we take for granted.
way to go, now go more!
A great study to be sure, but what's needed here are specific solutions that create that 30%. We have some on greenhome.com, but it's always a great leap forward when a solid study like this gets linked to them. My question: What are the low hanging fruit in terms of ROI that we should be pursuing, according to RMI? - Lawrence Comras, President, Greenhome.com
This could be misleading...
Without a doubt there are huge opportunities bringing energy efficiency to scale nationwide, but measuring efficiency relative to GDP is misleading. The states with the most concentrated wealth stand at a huge advantage. And do we really believe that the lowest-performing states (by this measure) can achieve what the highest-performing states can, with equal ease? Some states' economies and populations are inherently more costly to retrofit.
Better meters
Tasmania, Australia has installed meters where homeowners get up to a 50 percent discount rate for electricity usage at night.
So Tasmanians put their washers, dryers and dishwasher on timers and make use of the night rates.
Imagine if we could plug in electric cars and get cheap recharges at night? We'd be making use of idle excess capacity, while reducing our dependance on foreign dirty oil.
We've barely scratched the surface in terms of conserving energy.
My guess is if we examined all ways to save on electricity our country could probably reduce it's consumption by 50 percent without undue strain on the populace.
Yet Obama's bailout package included funds and loan guarantees for 10 more nuclear plants and "clean coal" initiatives. Go figure?