Researchers at UCLA have given us a new way to judge our neighbors today: a big map showing who's using how much electricity. The new interactive map from the California Center for Sustainable Communities shows the average amount of electricity used per customer in every neighborhood of the city of LA for each month over a one and a half year period, how that compares to other neighborhoods, and how energy use has changed over the study period. UCLA says that the map "will help policymakers pinpoint the best locations for future energy-efficiency programs, show residents whether they are using more or less energy than their neighborhood average and highlight the important links between land use and energy use." You can get out your last LADWP bill and see how your energy use compares to your neighborhood, or just click over and see where all our electricity is going.

It's no surprise that LAX and the Port of LA have the highest average energy use in town, and areas with lots of office buildings--like Downtown and Century City--don't fare too well, either. Wealthier neighborhoods with big houses and gadget-loving residents also tend to be big-time energy hogs, so Westsiders are the big users on the city side of the hills, though residents north of Wilshire to Hollywood get no prizes for efforts in conservation. (That said, there are a few parts of Brentwood where energy use is so low we wonder if they're all reading by candlelight.) In the Valley, the biggest electricity consumption seems to happen on a diagonal corridor running northwest to southeast along the Metrolink tracks.

In the future, UCLA plans to update the map with new layers showing average electric bills, average number of people per household, average square footage of buildings and average energy use, sorted by industrial sector.

· Los Angeles Electricity Use [Official Site]