Report: Colorado breaks top 10 in nation for energy efficiency
Colorado ranks seventh in the nation for energy efficiency, marking the first time it has appeared in the top 10.
This is according to the 2025 State Energy Efficiency Scorecard from the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy, which ranked all 50 states and Washington, D.C. on "their policies and programs aimed at reducing energy costs and cutting climate pollution through energy efficiency."
Colorado was among the most improved states since the last scorecard in 2022, jumping six spots in the rankings.
Colorado Governor Jared Polis, a Democrat, applauded the improvement.
“Colorado continues to raise the bar on advancing energy efficiency, expanding clean transportation and strengthening sustainable building practices that save people and businesses money,” he said. “As the nation’s leader in EV adoption, we're focused on making smart investments to lower costs and build a cleaner future across Colorado.”
The scorecard said the state’s improvement was due to it “adopting policies for clean vehicles, implementing a building performance standard to reduce energy consumption in large buildings, and enacting a range of appliance efficiency standards.”
Colorado has adopted a number of statewide initiatives to push its citizens to buy and drive electric vehicles.
“The state envisions the large-scale transition of Colorado’s transportation system to zero emission vehicles,” reported Colorado’s 2023 Electric Vehicle Plan.
This includes 940,000 electric vehicles on Colorado roads by 2030 and increasing the market share of light duty EVs to nearly 100 percent by 2050.
“We are committed to pursuing innovative strategies to achieve net-zero emissions in Colorado by 2050, while saving Coloradans money on energy costs, improving air quality, and creating new economic opportunities and good-paying jobs across the state,” said Will Toor, Colorado’s energy office executive director.
While the state says the ability to meet that goal has “never been better,” it currently only has 101,000 electric vehicles registered in the state. To meet the 2030 goal, the state would have to average 168,000 additional EVs per year.
