Greater Fort Wayne Business Weekly
Indiana lags behind almost every state in the union when it comes to being green, according to rankings released recently by Forbes magazine.
The Hoosier state was ranked 49th out of 50 due to its lack of energy policies, its energy consumption patterns and residents' poor lifestyle choices. The only state with a lower ranking was West Virginia, which was 50th.
By comparison, Michigan was ranked 24th, Kentucky was 45th, Illinois was 27th and Ohio was 39th.
The "greenest" states were Vermont, Oregon and Washington. All have low carbon-dioxide emissions per capita, strong policies to promote energy efficiency and high air quality. They're also among the states with the most buildings, on a per-capita basis, to have received the U.S. Green Building Council's benchmark certification, known as Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, Forbes said on its Web site.
The magazine used the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy's energy efficiency scorecard, released in June 2007, to compile the rankings for policy initiatives. To rank energy consumption and lifestyle choices, Forbes took into account a number of factors, including vehicle miles traveled and the number of alternative-fuel and hybrid-electric vehicles per capita, along with the number of LEED-certified buildings.
Additional information from the Energy Information Administration, the Environmental Protection Agency, the U.S. Department of Transportation, the Natural Resources Defense Council and the Sierra Club was used.
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