energy efficiency

The American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE) has just handed out its annual energy efficiency rankings for the US states. Here are the top 10:

10. New Jersey
9. Wisconsin
7. Minnesota (tie)
7. Massachusetts (tie)
6. Washington
5. New York
4. Vermont
3. Connecticut
2. Oregon
1. California

Stats: California earned 40.5 total points, out of 50. Wyoming was dead last with zero. Idaho (number 13) earned "most improved." Wisconsin scored in the top ten (a first). Rhode Island was the most energy-efficient as a percentage of its total electrical sales -- achieving a savings of 1.23 percent.

More to the point: The US states, combined, spent two to three times more than the federal government did on energy efficiency -- the most common-sense and available solution to energy and climate change.

People opposed to action on global warming use three arguments most often: global warming is not caused by human activities, reducing CO2 will slow economic growth and really it's just an excuse for eco-liberals to create a neo-fascist nanny state to run everyone's life in an irritating and politically correct fashion.

There isn't much I can add to the debate on the first issue, but let's talk about the other two, with the help of the graph above which I found at the Canadian Green Party website.

We'll see that reducing CO2 by increasing energy efficiency improves the economy and that 'nanny' laws work when the free market doesn't.

That blue line going down shows the dramatic improvement in the energy efficiency of refrigerators in the US since 1973. That pinkish line rising tells an opposite story -- of the dramatic rise in standby power over the same period.

Together they tell a couple stories: one about vampires, the other about nannies.

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.

Linux enthusiasts, rejoice! You now have more ammo in your arsenal to throw out against rival Windows – and this time it’s green.

From Network World Magazine:

Independent tests show that Linux pulls as much as 12% less power than Windows 2008 on identical hardware.

For that, Linux captured the magazine's "green flag" award.

So how did Network World do it?

It’s not the sexiest climate fix in the world, it must be said. But energy efficiency works -- and now come the numbers to prove it.

For the first time ever, the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE) has tallied all the money invested in US energy efficiency to get a quantitative picture of just how big the efficiency market is.

And you won’t believe what it found.

Three researchers at the DOE Berkeley Lab have gotten techie attention because they found a way to build the world's most accurate and efficient climate prediction supercomputer by using the same microprocessor technology of the iPod.

But there's something more fascinating about why the research was needed in the first place.

The super machines used to predict climate change today are the Hummers of the computer world.