Jacksonville Ranks 34th out of 34 cities.

[Dog Walker]

The American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy has ranked Jacksonville 34th out of the 34 most populous cites in the US for a range of energy efficiency standards.  Government and utility policies are a factor in the rankings.  Boston ranks #1.

http://www.salon.com/2013/09/25/americas_most_energy_efficient_cities_ranked/

http://aceee.org/press/2013/09/report-ranks-us-cities-efforts-save-

[Josh]

Not surprised. We're the most socially conservative city on the list, and there is a large sentiment among conservatives that anything "green" or energy efficiency is a liberal agenda. There was that light bulb study earlier this year that showed that Republicans were much less likely than Democrats to purchase certain light bulbs if they were marked "energy efficient." When they were just marked as cost saving over incandescents, Republicans and Democrats in the study purchased them at the same rate.

[Lunican]

Jacksonville earned 3.75 points out of a possible 28 in transportation policy.

http://aceee.org/files/pdf/summary/e13g-summary.pdf

[CityLife]

We beat Detroit in the Local Government Operations category by a score of 2.5 to 1.5 out of 15....so we've got that going for us....which is not nice.

[KenFSU]

You'd think an 800 square mile city with decades of unregulated sprawl would be more energy efficient.

[Cheshire Cat]

Not surprised. We're the most socially conservative city on the list, and there is a large sentiment among conservatives that anything "green" or energy efficiency is a liberal agenda. There was that light bulb study earlier this year that showed that Republicans were much less likely than Democrats to purchase certain light bulbs if they were marked "energy efficient." When they were just marked as cost saving over incandescents, Republicans and Democrats in the study purchased them at the same rate.

Josh, this is a very insightful statement and I believe may be the reason why it is so difficult for our city to progress as it should.  I think a discussion about how to bring some balance to the extreme conservative and liberal views may be in order. 

[I-10east]

There's alot of questions to be asked with this poll. The whole "Republicanism" Jax theory might have some teeth to it, but it doesn't explain why the other two FL (Tampa and Miami) metros are nipping our heels; Not to mention so called 'progressive cities' like Charlotte. Why an important category like 'Local Gov't Operations' is only 15 points on the scale? Why is 'Transportation Polices' so high at 28 points? But of course, no matter how skewed it is, negative reports gets the local folk all riled up in approval; If it was a positive report concerning Jax (any subject) it would have been picked to shreds. "See, I told you that Jax sucks at everything!!!!"...SMH....

[Dog Walker]

We are too busy trying to pass 'noise' pollution and 'business pollution' ordinances to advocate for stuff that matters.

Both have nothing to do with energy, but they do matter both to business and quality of life.  Are you trolling?

[Ocklawaha]

Jacksonville earned 3.75 points out of a possible 28 in transportation policy.

http://aceee.org/files/pdf/summary/e13g-summary.pdf

They obviously didn't know we have a 'SKYWAY!'

[Scrub Palmetto]

They obviously didn't know we have a 'SKYWAY!'

Yeah, geez, that's like 32 points right there!

Another thing I'm not sure is totally revealed by this ranking -- or even the points given -- is how far apart #34 is from #1 really? I mean, they've put the cities in order, but what have we learned?

[I-10east]

I need a study from an environmental group that's non-political, with more credibility than ACEEE. Although many liberal, and democratic ideas make plenty of sense regarding being energy efficient, it's not foolproof. ACEEE couldn't lean any more further left; Hell, they probably would dock a city for not having climate change in it's mission statement.   

[simms3]

Not surprised. We're the most socially conservative city on the list, and there is a large sentiment among conservatives that anything "green" or energy efficiency is a liberal agenda. There was that light bulb study earlier this year that showed that Republicans were much less likely than Democrats to purchase certain light bulbs if they were marked "energy efficient." When they were just marked as cost saving over incandescents, Republicans and Democrats in the study purchased them at the same rate.

Josh, this is a very insightful statement and I believe may be the reason why it is so difficult for our city to progress as it should.  I think a discussion about how to bring some balance to the extreme conservative and liberal views may be in order. 

I agree.  Is it also worth it to point out that going down the ranking -

Boston
Portland
NYC
SF
Seattle
Austin
DC
Minneapolis
Chicago
Philadelphia
Denver

All of these cities are experiencing significant job growth right now in sort of the next generation economies.  All have major top tier research universities and are appealing to college grads and graduate school grads.  City leadership in each of these cities is heavily focused on quality of life.

Not to mention that aside from Houston (which has a gay mayor and plenty of libs), Jacksonville and Tampa are really the only republican strongholds of the bunch.  In Jax there really is no emphasis on quality of life, and I think QoL goes hand in hand with sustainability, which is antithetical to Republican/conservative doctrine.  No coincidences here.  Educated people are "evil" in many conservatives' minds just as "green/sustainability" is also an evil communist takeover.

What seems to matter to the people/leadership of Boston, SF and other cities seems very different than what seems to matter to the people/leadership of Jax, and as I have pointed out and even wrote a published editorial on, despite the apparent differences of opinion people in those cities may think they have with their elected/appointed leadership, they have nothing on Jax where differences of opinion across different parts of town take on whole other meanings, and elected/appointed leadership seems to be of its own completely separate mindset.

I need a study from an environmental group that's non-political, with more credibility than ACEEE. Although many liberal, and democratic ideas make plenty of sense regarding being energy efficient, it's not foolproof. ACEEE couldn't lean any more further left; Hell, they probably would dock a city for not having climate change in it's mission statement.   

I certainly trust a liberal organization actually interested in sustainability, knowledgeable about sustainability, and keen on changing trends and what's working and what's not in cities (which are generally "organizations" in and of themselves that require a different mindset to run, typically liberal for a reason, than a farm/rural/small town area) than a "moderate" to right-leaning organization discussing these issues and ranking cities.  Detroit, for the record, is a deep deep blue stronghold, as are other low ranking cities on the list (I'd even say Charlotte nowadays).  This clearly isn't about politics if that is what you're implying.

I think you also contradicted yourself in this way with your Reply # 7 (mentioning some "progressive" cities not doing so well themselves).

Liberal organizations have been researching sustainability practices as they can be applied to cities for decades.  Liberal organizations are also pro-transit by default (which is related).  Not only are conservative organizations against public transit as a concept in any form, conservative organizations don't research sustainability in cities, misrepresent the liberal organizations as applying a one-size fits all mantra, and spend their time trying to refute a message that isn't even applicable.  By their nature, liberal organizations aren't researching sustainability for farms/farm towns where many conservatives reside (and farms by their nature are already sustainable to some degree and carbon neutral to another, though not necessarily humane).  They are looking for applications for dense, bustling cities of millions of people where many liberals reside.  So they should and do know WTF they're talking about. 

[spuwho]

Not surprised. We're the most socially conservative city on the list, and there is a large sentiment among conservatives that anything "green" or energy efficiency is a liberal agenda. There was that light bulb study earlier this year that showed that Republicans were much less likely than Democrats to purchase certain light bulbs if they were marked "energy efficient." When they were just marked as cost saving over incandescents, Republicans and Democrats in the study purchased them at the same rate.

LOL! We measure energy sentiment by our party affiliation now. Our culture is much to politicized.

Next we will find that Repub toilets use more water than Dem toilets. Any studies to support that? Please share.

[peestandingup]

Not surprised. We're the most socially conservative city on the list, and there is a large sentiment among conservatives that anything "green" or energy efficiency is a liberal agenda. There was that light bulb study earlier this year that showed that Republicans were much less likely than Democrats to purchase certain light bulbs if they were marked "energy efficient." When they were just marked as cost saving over incandescents, Republicans and Democrats in the study purchased them at the same rate.

Josh, this is a very insightful statement and I believe may be the reason why it is so difficult for our city to progress as it should.  I think a discussion about how to bring some balance to the extreme conservative and liberal views may be in order.

True conservatives don't. Its the Koch Bros-backed Tea baggers that oppose these things (for obvious reasons). Anyone who says they're not for conservation isn't a true conservative, period. Lessening energy dependence = true freedom.

On the other hand, I do believe there is an underlying push for "green" from the powers that be to create more control, profit, bureaucracy, etc. So you really have to dig & keep your eyes open to see who's genuine & who isn't. And some liberals are guilty of this as well.

[I-10east]

I certainly trust a liberal organization actually interested in sustainability, knowledgeable about sustainability, and keen on changing trends and what's working and what's not in cities (which are generally "organizations" in and of themselves that require a different mindset to run, typically liberal for a reason, than a farm/rural/small town area) than a "moderate" to right-leaning organization discussing these issues and ranking cities.  Detroit, for the record, is a deep deep blue stronghold, as are other low ranking cities on the list (I'd even say Charlotte nowadays).  This clearly isn't about politics if that is what you're implying.

I think you also contradicted yourself in this way with your Reply # 7 (mentioning some "progressive" cities not doing so well themselves).

Liberal organizations have been researching sustainability practices as they can be applied to cities for decades.  Liberal organizations are also pro-transit by default (which is related).  Not only are conservative organizations against public transit as a concept in any form, conservative organizations don't research sustainability in cities, misrepresent the liberal organizations as applying a one-size fits all mantra, and spend their time trying to refute a message that isn't even applicable.  By their nature, liberal organizations aren't researching sustainability for farms/farm towns where many conservatives reside (and farms by their nature are already sustainable to some degree and carbon neutral to another, though not necessarily humane).  They are looking for applications for dense, bustling cities of millions of people where many liberals reside.  So they should and do know WTF they're talking about. 

Oh, so it's not about politics? If this www.aceee.org/topics/climate-change-policy isn't about politics, than I dunno what is; All we need is some gluten-free cappuccinos, a drum circle, and some good ganja to complete the cycle. This is based on transit too heavily IMO; To say that the 'point system' is flawed is putting it lightly. I didn't 'contradict' myself, the whole reasoning with this article is contradictory. Places like Flint and Detroit believed in that 'liberals can do no wrong' attitude, see where that got them. IMO both political parties are outta whack, and it gets even more whacker the further left or right you go.