By TIM FAULKNER/ecoRI.org
News staff
Rhode Island dropped
in the national energy-efficiency rankings, but remains one of the top states
in the country for conserving energy.
After climbing for
three straight years, Rhode Island fell from fifth to seventh place in an annual scorecard released by the American Council for an
Energy Efficient Economy (ACEEE). Massachusetts retained its No. 1 spot for the
second straight year.
The decline in Rhode
Island was blamed largely on a change in the ranking criteria. New this year is
an emphasis on transportation, efficiencies in energy production and green
building standards.
Abigail Anthony, Rhode
Island director of Environment Northeast, said the Ocean State has programs in
the works to show improvement in the new areas.
“I think the scorecard
is really important because it shows Rhode Island has all the pieces in place
to help us keep improving and show us the areas we need to improve in,” Anthony
said.
Here’s Rhode Island’s
Point Total
Utility & Public
Benefits Programs & Policies
18.5 of 20 points
Transportation Policies 5.5 of 9 points
Building Energy Codes 4 of 7 points
Combined Heat & Power 2.5 of 5 points
State Government Initiatives 2 of 7 points
Appliance Efficiency Standards .5 of 2 points
Total Score 33 of 50 points
Transportation Policies 5.5 of 9 points
Building Energy Codes 4 of 7 points
Combined Heat & Power 2.5 of 5 points
State Government Initiatives 2 of 7 points
Appliance Efficiency Standards .5 of 2 points
Total Score 33 of 50 points
Transportation. ACEEE awarded fewer points for
electric-vehicle incentives. Emphasis instead went to policies that reduce
vehicle miles traveled, compact transit-oriented development and insurance
policies that determine the premium based on miles traveled.
Two new laws are
expected to improve Rhode Island's energy-efficiency ranking.
This year, Rhode
Island passed "complete
streets” legislation (pdf)
that includes upgrades for pedestrians, bikes and traffic-calming measures. The
law requires the state Department of Transportation to produce a plan in two
years showing compliance with the concepts.
The new Petroleum
Savings and Independent Advisory Commission (pdf) also must cut petroleum
consumption through alternatives such as public transportation.
Heat and power. Combined heat and power (CHP), or
cogeneration, recovers “waste heat” from power generation at large industrial
facilities. This recovered heat improves energy efficiency by using the excess
heat to power heating and cooling for a building.
New legislation is
expected to boost Rhode Island's ACEEE ranking. The state’s least cost
procurement law was amended (pdf) this year to include development
of CHP systems.
Green building codes. Rhode Island lost a point
on the scorecard in the Building Energy Code Stringency category, because the
ACEEE changed its standards from the 2009 standards to new 2012 standards. The
standards are likely to be updated in Rhode Island. In July, the state received
a $700,000 federal grant to implement an energy-efficiency improvement strategy
for all state and municipally owned buildings, including schools.
Josh Craft, a senior
policy associate with Northeast Energy Efficiency Partnerships, said regardless
of the rankings, Rhode Island is in the top-tier of state energy-efficiency
programs. Last year, it was tied with three states, so the drop this year is
hardly an indicator of poor performance, he said.
“Along with other New England states, Rhode
Island continues to push pretty hard, and we hope they keep it up,” Craft said.
