On October 4th, the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE) released its 2018 State Energy Efficiency Scorecard (Scorecard). To disseminate the results of the new Scorecard, ACEEE held a webinar featuring NASEO members Commissioner Judith Judson (Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources) and Commissioner Andrew McAllister (California Energy Commission), NASEO’s new Board of Directors Chair. Commissioners Judson and McAllister provided information on their offices’ approach to energy efficiency policy development, and emphasized the importance of coordinating and cooperating with the Energy Office, Governor, Legislature, and key stakeholders when setting energy efficiency goals developing supporting policies. The webinar also highlighted key energy efficiency improvements in other states, including Connecticut, Colorado, Missouri, Nevada, New Jersey, and South Dakota.
The Scorecard is one measure used to assess energy efficiency policy and program development, and ranks states across six categories: utility and public benefits programs and policies; transportation policies; building energy codes and compliance; combined heat and power (CHP) policies; state government-led initiatives around energy efficiency; and appliance and equipment standards. Points are allocated to each policy area and weighted according to the relative potential energy savings achieved from each. States are then ranked according to their cumulative score across all rankings.