ACEEE

It's not news that energy efficiency is cost-effective. But new numbers from the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE) quantify just how cheap the resource has become relative to other power generation types.

The figure today: two and a half cents per kilowatt-hour (kWh).

That's one-third or less the price of any new source of electricity, making efficiency the cheapest option available – conventional or renewable – and a no-brainer investment for big utilities.

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.