Californians consume the 4th-lowest amount of energy per person nationwide, according to the nonprofit website EnergyTrends.org.
EnergyTrends.org is a project of the Lexington Institute, a think tank based in Arlington, Virginia.
"Americans' awareness and understanding of energy seem to be increasing, but major changes in energy consumption don't happen overnight," said Don Soifer, Executive Vice President of the Lexington Institute. "This year, increased use of natural gas in most of the Southeastern states was the strongest trend."
Earlier this year, EnergyTrends released its first state letter grades for states based on renewable energy patterns. California earned a letter grade of B.
"It is our hope that the information on EnergyTrends.org will be useful for everyone from schools to elected officials to keep track of their state's critical energy consumption and generation patterns," Soifer said.
He noted that the research is based on 2010 energy data which was recently released by the U.S. Department of Energy. The website tracks vital indicators for energy and electricity use, as well as which fuels (like coal, natural gas or renewables) are used to generate electricity, and ranks states in each category. It also analyzes data from recent years, providing easy-to-read indicators to show overall trends.
