States, Cities, and Countries

Highlights

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

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City Rankings

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

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State Rankings

Northeastern states and California lead the nation on establishing strong energy efficiency commitments.

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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

2019 State Scorecard Rankings

Source: ACEEE (2019), The 2019 State Energy Efficiency Scorecard

DETAILS
In 2019, the greatest progress in energy efficiency efforts was made at state levels, driven by governors’ and state legislatures’ commitments to decarbonization and energy efficiency. Such efforts were announced in states that have traditionally demonstrated leadership, such as Massachusetts, California, and New York. However, exciting developments also emerged in Nevada, New Mexico, Washington, New York, and Maine, all of which adopted 100% clean energy goals and accompanying ramp-ups of efficiency efforts. In Virginia and New Jersey, utilities unveiled significant expansions of efficiency program portfolios in response to 2018 clean energy bills passed in state legislatures. State legislatures in Colorado, Washington, and Hawaii also adopted significant new appliance standards in the biggest wave of state-level standard adoption in this decade.1

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City Scorecard Rankings

U.S. cities are prioritizing energy efficiency

2019 City Clean Energy Scorecard

Source: ACEEE (2019), City Clean Energy Scorecard

Top 10 cities

1. Boston
2. San Francisco
3. Seattle
4. Minneapolis
5. Washington
6. New York City
7. Los Angeles
8. Denver
9. Austin
10. Portland

11-20

11. San José
12. Oakland
13. San Diego
14. Chicago
15. Orlando
16. Philadelphia
17. Phoenix
18. Long Beach
19. Pittsburgh
20. Sacramento
20. Chula Vista, CA

21-30

22. Atlanta
23. Kansas City
24. Hartford
25. Providence
25. Columbus
27. Cleveland
27. Riverside, CA
29. Baltimore
30. Salt Lake City

31-50

31. St. Paul
32. San Antonio
32. Las Vegas
34. Cincinnati
35. Houston
36. St. Louis
37. Dallas
38. Grand Rapids
39. St. Petersburg
40. Richmond
40. Buffalo
42. Bridgeport, CT
42. Knoxville
44. Milwaukee
44. Raleigh
44. Fort Worth
47. Nashville
47. Honolulu
49. Bakersfield
50. Indianapolis

51-75

51. New Haven
52. New Orleans
52. Tucson
52. Albuquerque
55. Louisville
55. Miami
55. Worcester
58. Rochester
59. Tampa
60. El Paso
61. Reno
61. Memphis
63. Virginia Beach
63. Aurora
63. Detroit
66. Jacksonville
67. Mesa
68. Charlotte
69. Omaha
70. Newark
71. Henderson, NV
72. Birmingham
73. McAllen, TX
74. Tulsa
75. Oklahoma City

Cities to Watch

Hartford
Providence
Cincinnati

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 was Boston, followed by San Francisco, Seattle, Minneapolis, Washington, New York City, Los Angeles, Denver, Austin, and Portland. Cincinnati, Hartford, and Providence were identified as “cities to watch” given their recently adopted policies and progress. From January 2017 to April 2019, local governments across the cities analyzed implemented 265 new clean energy initiatives or expanded existing initiatives. Rankings were based on local government operations, community-wide initiatives, buildings policies, energy and water utilities programs, and transportation policies. 2

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International Scorecard Rankings

Energy efficiency ambitions vary internationally

2018 International Energy Efficiency Scorecard

Source: ACEEE (2018), The 2018 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 78% of all energy consumption and over 80% of the world’s GDP in 2014, on the basis of 36 policy and performance metrics.

Based on this methodology, Germany and Italy tied for first place in 2018, followed by France, the United Kingdom, Japan, Spain, the Netherlands, China, Taiwan, and the U.S. and Canada. Mexico demonstrated the greatest improvement, as well as Indonesia and the Netherlands. South Africa and Korea saw the largest drops in scores. 3

Footnotes

  1. ACEEE (2019), The 2019 State Energy Efficiency Scorecard
  2. ACEEE (2019), City Clean Energy Scorecard
  3. ACEEE (2019), The 2019 International Energy Efficiency Scorecard