A new report from the American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy (ACEEE) ranked the energy efficiency of the world's 12 largest economies. The U.S., unfortunately, ranked 9 out of 12.
So while we were out dominating at the Olympics, we were quietly slipping behind on a metric that, if improved, would yield a substantial benefit for our country -- economically as well as environmentally.
So how did we do on the specifics?
- 9th overall in energy efficiency
- 9th in terms of "national effort" in energy efficiency
- 6th in industrial energy efficiency
- 4th in building energy efficiency
- 12th in transportation efficiency
With our penchant for gas guzzlers and the unpopularity of public transportation over here, it's easy to see how we came in dead last in transportation.
But a shimmer of hope there is the 4th place ranking we got in building energy efficiency -- our best category, and not all that shabby really. (We would have almost gotten a medal if building energy efficiency were an Olympic event.) While we've previously lamented our slow progress in implementing energy efficiency in buildings, and have shaken our heads as federal tax credits have been cut and legislation aimed at improving energy efficiency has stalled, it looks like we're actually doing okay in the field of building efficiency compared to the rest of the world's developed countries.
Still, our efforts to improve the energy efficiency of buildings, and energy efficiency across the rest of these sectors, could be improved. Doing so would reap significant dividends for families, local economies, businesses, the environment -- you name it -- all while reducing our dependence on foreign and dirty energy sources.
So here's to looking on the bright side, seeing the room we have for improvement, and charging ahead. Even if we'll never take the gold in transportation efficiency, maybe we can at least medal in one of these categories in the years ahead.
For the record, here's how the rest of the countries surveyed stacked up:
1) United Kingdom
2) Germany
3) Italy
4) Japan
5) France
6) European Union (tie)
6) China (tie)
6) Australia (tie)
9) United States
10) Brazil
11) Canada
12) Russia
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