AUGUSTA (AP) — A state Energy Office report says Maine residents have decreased their oil use by 26 percent since 2007.
The report, required by state law, also finds oil consumption is down in the commercial sector by 20 percent, and in the industrial sector by a significant 40 percent, since 2007. Those reductions, which result from current policies and market conditions, will enable the state to meet its 2030 goal of a 30 percent reduction without additional actions.
But meeting the long term target of a 50 percent reduction by 2050 will prove much more challenging. Energy Office Director Patrick Woodcock says that despite a significant decline in oil consumption, Mainers will still spend more on oil to heat their homes than any other state in the country.
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