Oklahoma City was one step away from the bottom of a list of cities showing improvements in the 2017 City Energy Efficiency Scorecard released by the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy.
The city was ranked 50th in the list of cities that are working to reduce energy waste. Oklahoma City earned 8 points of a possible 100. That’s 4 points fewer than last year’s report. It was considered one of the five cities “most in need of improvement.” The four other cities are Hartford, Memphis, Detroit and Birmingham.
“Oklahoma City has enacted some energy efficient policies, but has significant room to improve across all policy areas,” stated the ACEEE report. “It can do so by pursuing foundational energy efficiency policies like developing a community-wide energy savings goal, adopting a more-stringent building energy code and creating a sustainable transportation plan to reduce vehicles miles traveled citywide.”
Oklahoma City was given 1.5 points out of 10 for local government operations; a half-point out of 12 for community-wide initiatives; 1 out of 28 for buildings policies; 4 out of 20 for energy and water utilities; and 1 out of 30 for transportation policies.
Boston remained the top US city for energy efficiency, receiving 84.5 out of a possible 100. It was followed by New York City, Seattle and Los Angeles, Portland, Austin, Chicago, Washington, DC, Denver and San Francisco.
The ACEEE said Los Angeles made a 25-point jump and was the most-improved city.