North Carolina ranks eighth among states with the greatest potential for economic development through energy-efficiency policies, according to a report by a national think tank and an energy-investment firm.
It’s the only Southeastern state in the top 10, which is led by Connecticut, California and Maryland. Florida is the only other Southeastern state in the top 20, ranked 18.
The report was released Tuesday by the Center for American Progress and Energy Resource Management Corp.
Ten criteria
“Our country needs a national program to retrofit America’s homes, offices, and factories for energy efficiency — a program that can provide an important answer to the jobs crisis facing our country,” the study’s authors say. “But it will take public-policy leadership to mobilize the private-sector investment that is needed to grow this emerging market. Fortunately, many states around the country are already demonstrating that it is possible to jumpstart market demand for energy-efficiency retrofits.”
It ranked the states on 10 criteria, including the cost of electricity, renewable-energy policies and regulatory openness to efficiency efforts.
All of the states ranked in the top 20 had some renewable-energy policies. But North Carolina is the only state in the Southeast with a renewable-energy portfolio standard that sets a minimum requirement for renewable-energy and energy-efficiency projects.
Modest standard
While the target of 12.5% of the power sold in the state by 2021 due to come from renewables and efficiency is seen by some as modest, it clearly helped North Carolina in the rankings.
But other factors helped raise the state’s score. The report praises Duke Energy’s Save-A-Watt program as a good example of regulatory efforts to encourage investment in efficiency and production. Ohio, which ranked No. 10, also has Save-A-Watt operating in Duke’s service area around Cincinnati.
North Carolina’s relatively low electricity costs hurt its ranking. States with high costs for power obviously have a greater incentive to promote energy efficiency. Six of the top 10 states had power costs well above the national average.
Source: Charlotte Business Journal
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