States, Cities, and Countries

Highlights

Scroll below the selected highlights for the full set of indicators.

City Rankings

San Francisco, Seattle, and Washington have demonstrated the most leadership for cities in prioritizing energy efficiency.

State Rankings

California, Massachusetts, and New York lead the nation on establishing strong energy efficiency commitments.

Global Rankings

The U.S. ranks 10th for energy efficiency deployments globally.

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State Scorecard Rankings

U.S. states are accelerating their energy efficiency efforts

2022 State Scorecard Rankings

Map of 2022 State Scorecard Rankings from 1 to 51, with star indicating most improved

Source: ACEEE (2022), The 2022 State Energy Efficiency Scorecard

DETAILS

Efforts to advance clean energy goals continued to lag following the global pandemic. Annual savings from ratepayer-funded electric efficiency programs dipped slightly lower (2.43%) in 2021 compared to 2020. Savings totaled approximately 26 million megawatt-hours, enough to power almost 2.4 million homes for a year.

California was an energy efficiency leader thanks to its adoption of advanced clean energy building codes, stringent vehicle emissions standards, and industry-leading appliance standards. Seventeen states and the District of Columbia have adopted California’s low-emissions vehicle regulations. This most improved state in 2021 was Maine, which signed laws to promote electrification and decarbonization for affordable housing, adopted energy- and water-saving standards for more than 15 products, and continues to invest in weatherization and heat pump incentive programs. The state has also developed a Clean Transportation Roadmap to equitably advance electric vehicle adoption. State-driven appliance standards also remained extremely important: state standards have been critical to helping consumers save on utility bills and spurring adoption of stronger national standards. Maryland, New Jersey, Oregon, and Washington have passed efficiency standards for up to 17 types of products, and New York is expected to adopt appliance standards through a rulemaking process by the end of 2022.1

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City Scorecard Rankings

U.S. cities are prioritizing energy efficiency

2021 City Clean Energy Scorecard

2021 City Score Card Map

Source: ACEEE (2021), City Clean Energy Scorecard

Top 10 cities

  1. San Francisco
  2. Seattle
  3. Washington
  4. Minneapolis
  5. Boston
  6. New York
  7. Denver
  8. Los Angeles
  9. San Jose
  10. Oakland
11-20

  1. Portland
  2. Chicago
  3. Philadelphia
  4. Austin
  5. Atlanta
  6. San Diego
  7. Chula Vista
  8. Hartford
  9. Sacramento
  10. Saint Paul

21-40

  1. Pittsburgh
  2. Orlando
  3. Phoenix
  4. Honolulu
  5. Baltimore
  6. Providence
  7. Long Beach
  8. Columbus
  9. St. Louis
  10. Aurora
  11. Albuquerque
  12. Las Vegas
  13. Grand Rapids
  14. Houston
  15. Salt Lake City
  16. Kansas City
  17. San Antonio
  18. Cleveland
  19. Madison
  20. Riverside

41-60

  1. Boise
  2. Charlotte
  3. Knoxville
  4. Dallas
  5. Cincinnati
  6. Nashville
  7. Fresno
  8. Richmond
  9. Miami
  10. Springfield
  11. St. Petersburg
  12. Rochester
  13. Buffalo
  14. Milwaukee
  15. Worcester
  16. New Haven
  17. Bakersfield
  18. Colorado Springs
  19. Louisville
  20. Memphis
61-80

  1. Reno
  2. Detroit
  3. Oxnard
  4. Indianapolis
  5. Raleigh
  6. Des Moines
  7. Stockton
  8. New Orleans
  9. Mesa
  10. Bridgeport
  11. Tucson
  12. Fort Worth
  13. Newark
  14. Syracuse
  15. Virginia Beach
  16. Dayton
  17. El Paso
  18. Toledo
  19. Charleston
  20. Jacksonville
81-100

  1. Tampa
  2. Henderson
  3. Tulsa
  4. Oklahoma City
  5. Akron
  6. Birmingham
  7. Winston-Salem
  8. Allentown
  9. Omaha
  10. Columbia
  11. Greensboro
  12. Lakeland
  13. San Juan
  14. Little Rock
  15. Augusta
  16. Provo
  17. McAllen
  18. Cape Coral
  19. Wichita
  20. Baton Rouge
DETAILS

A number of U.S. cities also lead in their commitment to energy efficiency and renewable energy. According to the ACEEE City Clean Energy Scorecard, the top performer in 2021 was San Francisco, followed by Seattle, Washington, Minneapolis, Boston, New York City, Denver, Los Angeles, San Jose, Austin, and Oakland. Between May 2, 2020, and July 1, 2021, the cities took at least 177 new actions to advance clean energy. While the COVID-19 pandemic led many cities to delay or modify work they had planned for 2020, cities increased their clean energy work in late 2020 and early 2021. Rankings were based on local government operations, community-wide initiatives, buildings policies, commitment to racial and social equity, energy and water utilities programs, and transportation policies.2

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International Scorecard Rankings

Energy efficiency ambitions vary internationally

2022 International Energy Efficiency Scorecard

DETAILS

The ACEEE International Scorecard scores and ranks the energy efficiency deployments of the 25 top energy-consuming countries in the world, which collectively represent 82% of all energy consumption and over 80% of the world’s GDP in 2014, on the basis of 36 policy and performance metrics.

France led with an overall score of 74.5 out of 100 possible points, and also earned the top spot in the transportation category. The remaining top five were the United Kingdom, Germany, the Netherlands, and Italy. No country achieved a perfect score, and the average score declined slightly from 2018, indicating that countries have achieved limited progress in the past few years. Energy efficiency is an important tool to address climate change and reduce energy consumption. Countries will need to step up their efforts to make progress on their climate goals.3

Footnotes

  1. ACEEE (2021), State Scorecard
  2. ACEEE (2021), City Scorecard
  3. ACEEE (2022) International Scorecard