Waking Up to Energy Efficiency: What Washington Can Learn from the States

As an economic cure for America, it’s something of an unknown quantity. But energy efficiency could deliver 1.5 million new jobs by 2030 -- if Washington doesn’t botch the opportunity.

That’s the major finding of a new report by the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE).

And it comes straight from the experience of the US labs of climate policy innovation: the states.

Many have stepped into the national void on energy efficiency and have released their findings for the whole world to see.

To its credit, ACEEE dug into the data of 48 of those state-level studies to present a first-ever quantitative picture, spanning 15 years, of just how much US states have gained from their energy efficiency smarts.

The results? According to the set of studies reviewed, there was an average energy savings of 23 percent in participating governments, with a 2 to 1 benefit-cost ratio.

Which means: for every dollar invested in efficiency improvements, state coffers got back two.

The whole US economy could reap such easy returns if Washington ponies up the political will and applies these policies on a national scale.

So argues ACEEE.

And here’s what the US would forego if it doesn’t. A 20 to 30 percent energy efficiency gain within the whole US economy could produce 500,000 to 1.5 million new jobs and an increase in GDP of 0.1 percent in about two decades.

A straightforward fix. And yet, most national energy policy assessments haven’t paid a lick of attention to the cost-saving potential of efficiency measures.

That omission, argues ACEEE, has led to a distortion in the costs of solving climate change at the national level. From the ACEEE press release:

If the energy efficiency resource were properly characterized and represented within the national level economic models, the estimated costs of energy and climate change policy would fall, while the benefits, net job creation, and savings for consumers, would rise.

Intrigued? There’s plenty more efficiency truth-telling where that came from.

This latest report comes on the heels of last month's ACEEE study, which found, surprisingly, that energy efficiency has contributed more value to the US economy than any conventional energy resource since 1970. It also concluded that the efficiency resource is in serious danger of missing out on needed future investments. (For more, here's our earlier post, Energy Efficiency: America's Best Kept Climate-Fighting Secret.)

You can’t ask for a more cogent and updated case for an energy-efficient America than what ACEEE has provided with these two papers.

Read them in full if you can, accessible here.

Either way, the takeaway message is simple. Energy efficiency works. Investing wisely in the sector right now will grow the whole US economy and jobs, slash energy consumption and avert millions of tons of carbon dioxide emissions.

Doing otherwise would be negligent.

Period.

• ‹ previous
• up
• next ›