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The Center for American Progress (CAP) recently released a report, Creating Good Jobs and New Markets Through Energy Efficiency, that lists the "Top 10 Energy Efficiency States" and the 10 most effective policies states are using to develop energy efficiency markets. The states that made the top 10 list are, literally, all over the map: Connecticut, California, Maryland, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, New York, Texas, North Carolina, New Jersey and Ohio. The CAP paper focuses on the U.S. jobs crisis and recommends an energy efficiency solution that will put construction workers back to work and enhance the value of commercial, industrial and residential buildings. "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," according to CAP's commentary on the report. CAP, a progressive think tank and policy research organization, estimates that energy efficiency retrofits could provide 625,000 jobs over the next 10 years, generate billions in new investments and save consumers $64 billion a year. The analysis and state rankings were based on how many of the 10 key policies the states are using, and how well they're using them.
Quick Take: Energy efficiency is a cornerstone of the smart grid with good reason. Commercial and residential buildings chew up 40% of the electricity produced in the U.S. As the CAP paper says, widespread adoption of effective energy efficiency policies could go a long way toward digging us out of a continuing economic tar pit with new markets and new jobs.
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