But things aren't quite so good on the Council's home turf of the United States, where there's been "limited or little progress toward greater efficiency at the national level" in the last decade, resulting in its being ranked ninth out of the 12 nations listed.
"The UK and the leading economies of Europe are now well ahead of the United States when it comes to energy efficiency, said ACEEE Executive Director Steven Nadel. "This is significant because countries that use energy more efficiently require fewer resources to achieve the same goals, thus reducing costs, preserving valuable natural resources, and creating jobs.
"Unfortunately, our results show that nowhere is the vast potential for improvements in energy efficiency being completely realized," Nadel continued. "While many countries achieved notable success, none received a perfect score in any category - proving that there is much that all countries can still learn from each other. For example, the United States scored relatively high in buildings, but was at the bottom of the list in transportation."
The rankings are modeled on ACEEE's time-tested approach to energy efficiency ranking of US states, and include 12 of the world's largest economies: Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, the United Kingdom, the United States, and the European Union.
These 12 economies represent over 78 percent of global gross domestic product; 63 percent of global energy consumption; and 62 percent of the global carbon-dioxide equivalent emissions.
On a scale of 100 possible points in 27 categories, the nations were ranked by ACEEE as follows: (1) the United Kingdom; (2) Germany; (3) Italy; (4) Japan; (5) France; (6) the European Union, Australia, and China (3-way tie); (9) the U.S.; (10) Brazil; (11) Canada; and (12) Russia.
ACEEE divided the 27 metrics across four groupings: those that track cross-cutting aspects of energy use at the national level, as well as the three sectors primarily responsible for energy consumption in an economically developed country--buildings, industry, and transportation.
The top-scoring countries in each grouping are: Germany (national efforts); China (buildings); the United Kingdom (industry); and a tie among Italy, China, Germany, and the United Kingdom (transportation).
Responding to the UK's showing, Edward Davey, British Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, said: "Energy efficiency sits at the heart of our policies to encourage low-carbon growth, and I am particularly pleased that the UK is ranked first of the 12 economies considered by the study.
"Making our buildings and industries more energy efficient is a significant challenge, one that will take years to meet; doing so cost effectively will mean drawing on the experiences of others," Davey said. "This study is a fascinating collection of best practice, setting out the innovations which can accelerate economic growth, enhance energy security - and save our households and businesses money."
Report author and ACEEE Senior Researcher Sara Hayes said while energy efficiency has played a major role in the economies of developed nations for decades, cost-effective energy efficiency remains a massively underutilized energy resource.
"Fortunately, there is a lot countries can do to strengthen their economic competitiveness through improvements in energy efficiency," Hayes said.
The ACEEE ranking system looks at both "policy metrics" and "performance metrics" to measure a country's overall energy efficiency. Examples of policy metrics include the presence of a national energy savings target, fuel economy standards for vehicles, and energy efficiency standards for appliances. The "performance metrics" measure energy use and provide quantifiable results. Examples of performance metrics include the amount of energy consumed by a country relative to its gross domestic product, average miles per gallon of on-road passenger vehicles, and energy consumed per square foot of floor space in residential buildings.
For additional information:
American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy
