The American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE), a D.C. based non-profit, has updated its “State Energy Efficiency Scorecard,” and once again rated all three of our tri-states made the top ten. There was movement from the last (2006) scorecard (covered in MTR # 559), with Connecticut moving from a tie in the top spot to third place. New Jersey fell from number 8 to number 10, but New York rose to the 5th spot from the 7th in 2006.

The scores are based on eight categories designed to give a broad snapshot of states’ energy policies, with the transportation category representing only 6 of the 50 points available. Significantly, ACEEE noted that the largest gains in efficiency can be made in the transportation field, but reduced the weight of the score “because most of the state policy efforts needed to achieve these levels of savings have not yet been implemented,” and “even the best states aren’t coming close to the potential energy savings in the transportation sector.”

The score is determined by considering four areas of transportation policy: the adoption of California’s tailpipe emissions standards; enactment of smart growth policies; level of per-capita transit funding; and hybrid electric vehicle tax incentives. Non-transportation categories include everything from building energy codes to tax incentives for energy efficiency.

MTR was surprised to learn that Connecticut earned the highest transportation score in the country — 5 out of 6 (the scorecard does not provide much detail behind individual scores). NY received a 4.5, tied for the second highest transportation score with D.C. NJ received 3.5 points, but got plaudits for its smart growth policies, especially the new “Urban Transit Hub Tax Credit Act” that rewards businesses that locate near existing transit hubs.

View ACEEE’s Scorecard Executive Summary here.