American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy

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.

While cap and trade gets all the press, there's a vital provision in America's potential future climate law that keeps getting overlooked: energy efficiency.

That's unfortunate, because this least-cost, readily available resource could deliver one million new jobs by 2030 – if Congress would just improve upon the current policy.

The Washington-based American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE) crunched the numbers on the efficiency portion of the American Clean Energy and Security Act (ACES), which passed the U.S. House in June.

Here's what it found: Current efficiency measures in the bill would create 600,000 new jobs by 2030, save consumers an average of $486 a household, and avoid the need for 419 new coal plants.

Those are impressive benefits. But as striking as they are, they only represent half or less of what efficiency could offer the nation.

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.