Infographic: What’s Your State Good At?
More on How We Ranked Each State’s Energy Policy:
When ranking each state’s energy policy, we looked at three key factors: how much the state is doing to encourage energy efficiency through its policies and practices, how much the state is doing to encourage renewable energy through its policy and practices, and how much the state is doing to encourage solar energy adoption specifically (both residential and commercial) through its policy and practices. We also oh-so-subjectively awarded extra points for any special accomplishments such as significantly lowering the state’s greenhouse gas emissions. Primary sources that informed our scoring include the 2010 State Energy Efficiency Scorecard by the American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy, the 2010 State Summary of Renewable Energy Portfolios and the 2010 State Summary Solar Report Card by Solar Power Rocks (http://solarpowerrocks.com).
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More Sources for The State Superlatives:
- Alabama: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
- Alaska: National Center for Health Statistics and Bureau of Census data
- Colorado: Calorie Lab
- Connecticut: LA Times / Measure of America Study
- Hawaii: DOE / Census Bureau / Optimal Deployment of Solar Index (OSDI)
- Illinois: 2009 National Gang Threat Assessment
- Maine: State Health Facts
- Mississippi: Calorie Lab
- Nebraska: National Agricultural Statistics Service
- Nevada: RealtyTrac / National Survey on Drug Use and Health
- Rhode Island: 2006 and 2007 National Surveys on Drug Use and Health data on people age 12 or older / http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/08/11/drug-use-across-the-united-states-or-rhode-island-needs-more-rehab/
- Texas: http://www.windpoweringamerica.gov/wind_maps.asp#potential
- Utah: CDC / Smoking Rates by State / Top Ten States for Jobs
- Vermont: Morgan Quitno Index
- West Virginia: Center for Disease Control and Prevention
- Wyoming: US Energy Information Administration / US Census Bureau
interesting.
Have a look at this !
There’s more to NY than the city!
What is your state known for?
I found this list very interesting – I already knew more than I thought.
I knew I liked Washington for more than the scenery. Highest % of non-religious people? My kind of state!!
interesting….
yeahh, colorado number 1 in beer production
Interesting stuff!
Why is Kansas sad?
Based on the number of brewerys I wasn’t too surprised about Colorado… I expected more on fitness though than being skinny at least judging by the number of people running up and down the Incline, Pikes Peak, and actively trying to get hit by a car while “exercising”… Leave me to the couch…
Couch Potatoes of the World Unit!!!
Where’s DC & its 1st-place >31/100k murder rate & where’s Idaho’s potatoes even though I’ve lived here for years & every potato I ever ate came from Washington?
….west virginia is tops in toothlessness. It has the highest percentage of adults 65 and over who have had all of thier natural teeth extracted (40.5%). Yes, Red neck state!
What does and the presence of gangs have to do with energy policy? Answer: nothing. This is nothing more than liberals pointing fingers at states that aren’t as green as those really awesome states. And this obsession with demonising carbon is absurd. Then again, we need more propaganda to further the myth of global warming, nature isn’t cooperating.
Yeah, we have wind in Texas. Yes we have windmill farms…MIles upon miles of windmills cranking out electricity. You would think it would be cheap alternative to gas fired electric plants, but far from it. Someone seems to think that the more they build the more it will drive down the cost. I can’t help but wonder what the carbon footprint is for each one of these huge suckers, and how many decades is it going to take to offset all of the energy it took to manufacture, transport, erect, and maintain each one of these windmills cranking out “free” “green” electricty.
check this out !
I think the Tennessee entry is mis-reported. Shelby County is equivalent to Memphis and its suburbs, either the first or second most populous county in the state, and I would imagine has a quite small horse-to-human ratio. Shelbyville, where I live, is in Bedford County. It is the home of the Tennessee Walking Horse National Celebration, and the county has numerous horse farms, making it a much more likely candidate for the highest horse-to-human ratio.
Interesting.
cool!
Poor Nevada.
Wahoo! go Michigan!
MA ranks #1 for speeding tickets…
I’m so proud to be an Illinoisian!
I would totally move to Colorado …
Interesting
美國各州之最……
We educated eastern elitist, seem to be hated, I kind of take it as a compliment, better to be intelligent than not, if people don’t like you because your smarter thats called jealosy, and if your religious, jealosy is a sin. So you see we really don’t care what you think because you are jealous and believe in invisible God who you claim talks to you. Thats crazy shit
We hit deer with our cars better then anyone else
Mississippi. All we are good at is being racist and having fat people apprently. I mean it’s not like we were the birth place of the blues. Nor have we had plenty of famous actors, authors, and athletes from our state. We are just a bunch of backwoods, sister loving, racists who don’t know the first thing about fancy “yankee” folk or their new fangled tech no logicaly stuff.
I would insult you, but where I’m from, we’re taught to be polite to people. Even if they are assholes.
psh of course everything about NY is about stupid NYC
Check this out if you want to make a difference this year!
Colorado = PURE BEER OWNAGE. Also, we have a very good energy policy.
好玩儿～
Have to approve of Washington’s standing here, nice going guys! :)
Of everything there is in the state, they had to go with THAT? Then again, it is a natural/renewable energy power site, so that rather explains a lot.
Good Job Rhode Island, good job.
Nevada #1 in meth use, teen pregnancies and foreclosures. Whoo hooo!
speeding tickets in Mass? I remember the Pike to be one big traffic jam…
Yay for Delaware :)
the optimist in me needed to search out the good in each state…
i believe there is a typo on arizona. just sayin.
(leas/lead)
Why is there a sad face for Utah? I mean yeah, I hate living here, but the things mentioned are all good, right?
So everyone in Oregon in Bi, (or just hyper perverts) and we got the most Ghosts towns, I can’t deny the first one, but I want to buy a ghost town now and turn it into a rave, It’d be so cool!
So why didn’t they put the charitable giving before obesity? I am so tired of people trashing Mississippi. As Morgan Freeman said, this is a good place to be if you’ve been in a Hurricane. Thirty years living here and never had to change my own tire or lock my doors. I suppose fat people don’t steal much, eh?
I’m not quite understanding how South Dakota being the home of the Sioux nation makes it the “best”.. no offense intended to the Sioux Nation at all, I’m just not getting the “and that makes this state the BEST at that” part of it.
So that’s why all my Rhody friends are the coolest. Ha!
What. A. Shame. There are many wonderful things about West Virginia that you could have–and SHOULD have–highlighted.
Thank you for proving once again that it’s still socially acceptable to make fun of and stereotype people living in Appalachia. This would NEVER be acceptable with any other minority or people group, but hey, it’s “just” West Virginia.
If you want to know what WV is about, come & visit. We have the New River Gorge Bridge & Recreation area. We have Seneca Rocks. If you like scary/creepy, visit the Moundsville State Penitentiary. If you like great small towns, visit Lewisburg. If you like glamour and old-school class, visit The Greenbrier.
Hello, just wanted to say, I enjoyed this article. It was inspiring.
Keep on posting!