Highlight
- California’s energy expenditures as a percent of GDP was 4.47 percent in 2018, down significantly from 7.04 percent in 2008. These percentages were significantly lower than those for U.S. without California, which were 6.31 percent in 2018 and 10.25 percent in 2008. Among the largest states in the U.S., California had the second lowest energy expenditure as a percent of GDP behind New York (3.61%). Among the fifty states, California has the third-lowest percentage behind Washington (4.30%) in addition to New York.
Challenge
- Unlike electricity bill expenditures, statewide energy expenditures as a percent of GDP have not been continuously declining across the U.S. In California, energy expenditures as a percent of GDP have risen 0.47 percent in just two years from 4.0 percent in 2016. Likewise, outside of California, the rest of the U.S.’ energy expenditure has risen 66 basis points since 2016’s low of 5.65 percent. The recent increases in energy expenditures can be mainly attributed to an increase in the transportation sector, which accounted for 79.3 percent of the change in total energy expenditures—even though the transportation sector itself makes up 55.5 percent of the total energy expenditures in California.
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Energy Efficiency
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