WASHINGTON - With Congress so far unable to pass a comprehensive energy bill including efficiency policies, states are showing the way on energy efficiency policy, according to the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE).

Some of these state programs include the following:

  • Massachusetts, Oregon, and California have instituted natural gas utility efficiency programs.

  • Twenty states are operating public benefits funds to reduce electricity bills.

  • Maryland and Connecticut have passed appliance efficiency standards designed to save electricity.

  • New England states are planning ways to use energy efficiency and distributed generation to keep the transmission grid in shape.

  • New York, Texas, and California are instituting new interconnection and electric rate policies for high-efficiency combined heat and power systems.

  • Texas is using energy efficiency policies to address its air quality problems.

  • Nine northeastern states have formed the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI, or "Reggie") to develop a mandatory cap-and-trade policy for carbon emissions. Similar efforts are underway on the West Coast.

    ACEEE has documented this kind of state leadership in its publication Energy Efficiency's Next Generation: Innovation at the State Level. For more information, visit http://aceee.org/pubs/e031full.pdf.

    Publication date: 05/17/2004