Dive Brief:
- Four Florida municipalities scored poorly on the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE)'s city scorecard, mirroring weak performances from other Southern cities.
- The five most efficient cities in the United States are all large and known for their energy efforts: Boston; New York City; Washington; San Francisco and Seattle.
- Despite an improvement from the prior year's survey, WJCT.org reports Jacksonville still shows poorly, and city officials are just beginning to examine the results and develop a plan to improve efficiency.
Dive Insight:
When ACEEE's city scorecard came out last year examining 51 cities, no Florida town scored higher than 30. Jacksonville has seen a slight improvement in its score, largely because of its transportation strategy, but even that appears to be based on efforts the city took years ago.
ACEEE analyst David Ribiero told WJCT.org that the city’s "2030 mobility plan, which was actually developed or adopted in 2011, that was something that we actually didn't recognize in the 2013 edition. That was an oversight on our part, but we gave the city credit for it this time around."
The news outlet asked Jacksonville Chief Resiliency Officer Charles Moreland what the city is doing to improve efficiency, but reported there were little specifics. “There is so much more that I will be more exposed to in order to inform the mayor of things, which we need to do as a city,” Moreland said.
For example, that's a stark difference from Washington, D.C. In a statement, Mayor Muriel Bowser said the city's improvement in efficiency "shows that DC’s environmental policies are paying off."
The District was named one of the most-improved city's, and Bowser said that reflects the District's understanding that "being energy efficient is one of the most cost-effective ways to achieve our ambitious energy goals, cut carbon pollution, and create good paying jobs that put more residents on a pathway to the middle class."
The top-10 most efficiency cities were rounded out by: Chicago, Minneapolis, Portland, Austin, and Denver.
While Southeast cities ranked low overall, ACEEE said there were signs of improvement. Atlanta, the leading city in the Southeast (ranked #15), saw an improvement of 5 points, "earning new points for local government operations, buildings policies, energy and water utilities, and transportation policies." Charlotte (#33) made a strong showing as well, improving by nearly 8 points. Jacksonville, the lowest scoring city in the 2013 edition, "saw a 50 percent increase in its score," ACEEE said.
