Iowa recently received a high energy efficiency ranking in a national review.

The state’s high ranking in 2010 can be credited to actions it began taking more than 20 years ago.

“However you slice and dice the data, Iowa routinely ranks among the upper states in this measurement,” said Iowa Utilities Board (IUB) member Darrell Hanson. “Part of it is we have been doing this longer than almost any other state.”

Hanson, who served in the Iowa Legislature from 1979 to 1994, said Iowa was dealing with energy efficiency requirements in the 1980s while most states weren’t even thinking about it.

This year, Iowa tied for No. 12 in the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE) rankings, up six spots from No. 18 last year. The state scored 24.5 out of a possible 50 points.

Iowa scored ninth overall in the utility policies section of the rankings, which accounts for 20 of the study’s 50 possible points. The ACEEE report cited strong state regulations with oversight from the IUB. The study noted that Iowa electric utility companies budgeted $55.6 million for electric energy efficiency programs in 2009 and $34.8 million on natural gas efficiency programs.

Additionally, the study cited an IUB order in 2008 asking investor-owned utilities to achieve a 1.5 percent annual electricity and natural gas savings goal.

Iowa’s utilities results, along with those of highly ranked Wisconsin and Minnesota, are made more impressive by the fact that the state has lower electrical rates than most states higher on the list, Hanson said.

“(Energy efficiency) becomes more cost-effective as electricity and gas prices rise. If you have very expensive power rates, very expensive utility prices, then there’s a lot more things you can do that are cost-effective to cut back on your power,” he said. “I think that’s a pretty good indicator that those states – Iowa, Wisconsin and Minnesota – really are putting extraordinary effort into that.”

Iowa did well in two other areas of the ACEEE study: an eighth-place finish in the building code category and a ninth-place finish in the state government initiatives category, helped by what the report referred to as “lead by example” initiatives. Iowa is one of 15 states that has energy efficiency standards and benchmarks for state buildings, such as energy audits and tracking of energy use, Hanson said.