The Business Council for Sustainable Energy and Bloomberg New Energy Finance have once again teamed up to publish the 2015 Sustainable Energy in America Factbook. The factbook serves as an objective, scientific document containing valuable information for policy makers, journalists and industry leaders.
One focus of this year’s factbook is the evolution of energy productivity in the U.S. Historically, an expanding economy required an equal expansion of energy production to meet demand. This is changing, however, with advances and innovations in energy-generation productivity and efficiency technologies. According to the factbook, “By one measure—U.S. GDP per unit of energy consumed—productivity has increased by 54 percent since 1990. Between 2007 and 2014, total energy use fell 2.4 percent, while GDP grew 8 percent.”
Increasing productivity is not the only positive change to the U.S. energy economy, however. Contributions to the energy grid from renewable sources rose by an estimated 12.9 percent in 2014, with wind and solar tripling in capacity since 2008. This brings the total U.S. investment in clean energy in 2014 to $51.8 billion, the second highest in the world.
Energy efficiency has also seen tremendous gains. While advances in smart meters and energy-efficient appliances often dominate the headlines, the factbook found that “commercial buildings have showed the greatest progress on energy efficiency over the last several years.” It is evident that this progress is in direct correlation with the increased use of high performance building practices and materials such as polyisocyanurate foam insulation.
In the world of energy policy, information can be the most important asset to making smart decisions regarding the future of our energy economy and built environment. PIMA is happy to sponsor the Sustainable Energy in America Factbook and recognize it as an invaluable tool to policy makers around the country. The factbook can be read in its entirety by visiting the Business Council for Sustainable Energy website.