The energy efficiency story is generally one of progress, but here's some troubling news: Energy efficiency investment in the United States decreased by nearly 20 percent from 2016 to 2018, according to the International Energy Agency's World Energy Investment 2019 report, released in May.

There are many ways of considering this data and what it might mean. Let's take a look

Is Decreased Efficiency Investment a Global Trend?

Not particularly. The IEA says that overall worldwide efficiency investment remained level in 2018 (which, it makes clear, isn't good news because we need to be increasing investment). Small investment increases in transportation and industrial efficiency essentially offset a 2% drop in buildings efficiency.

The U.S.'s drop in efficiency investment stood out the most when IEA compared it with China. The report indicates that while efficiency investment in the U.S. and China was equal in 2016 at $51 billion, by 2018 the investment in the U.S. had dropped to $42 billion, while Chinese investment increased to $61 billion.