oakland photo: in2jazz
Which of the United State’s 50 biggest cities is the greenest when it comes to using renewable energy? Portland, Oregon? San Francisco, perhaps? Seattle? Nope. The top spot goes to Oakland, the city across the Bay from San Francisco whose gritty reputation belies its crunchy environmental policies. Oakland gets 17 percent of its electricity from renewable sources such as geothermal, solar and wind, according to SustainLane, a San Francisco firm that compiles data on government sustainability initiatives. Three other California cities tied for second place with 12 percent of their electricity generated from renewable sources: San Francisco, San Jose and Sacramento.
Here’s the rest of the list:
- Portland, Oregon: 10 percent
- Boston: 8.6 percent
- San Diego: 8 percent
- Austin: 6 percent
- Los Angeles: 5 percent
- Minneapolis: 4.5 percent
- Seattle: 3.5 percent
- Chicago: 2.5 percent
It’s no accident that six of the top cities are in California. The Golden State has set aggressive renewable energy portfolio standards for its three big investor-owned utilities – PG&E (PCG), Southern California Edison (EIX) and San Diego Gas & Electric (SRE). And city-owned utilities like the Sacramento Municipal Utility District have been green-energy pioneers. One city to watch is Austin. The Texas capital’s government has committed itself to going carbon neutral by 2020, and its municipal owned utility – Austin Energy, a leader in renewable energy – has been given a mandate to generate 100 megawatts of solar power and make all new plants zero emission.
Green Wombat 
Don’t you just luv it when a lazy journalist deciedes its time to do another thoughtless “top Ten” list?
Top ten nice cities:
Des Moines Ia
Nixa Mo
Brownsville Tx
New Orleans La
Plaines (Plains)Ga
Elizabeth City NC
Pungo
Steamboat Springs Co
Chula Vista Ca
#10…Your choice
Top ten awesome cities
1. New York
2. Boston
3. San Diego
4. Providence
5. Washington DC
6. San Francisco
7. Miami
8. Philadelphia
9. San Antionio
10 Your choice…
i realize that in dry southern california wind,geothermial and solar is all there is to renewable non-poluting power generation. up here in the north woods, portland, oregon; we consider hydropower renewable energy. it rains and snows every year and power is generated from falling water with no polution.
SustainLane used small-scale hydropower (only) in their rating…re: Portland’s lower rating.
You never hear CNN talk about any of the following cities:
1. Burlington-South Burlington, VT
2. Ithaca, NY
3. Corvallis, OR
4. Springfield, MA
5. Wenatchee, WA
6. Charlottesville, VA
7. Boulder, CO
8. Madison, WI
9. Binghamton, NY
10. Champaign-Urbana, IL
…they are all ranked by Countryliving Magazine as the most green friendly cities. Armchair reporting is just that. Check out the article…
http://www.countryhome.com/greencities/top25.html
I have a suggestion for a top ten list:
Top ten cities that steal their drinking water from others.
Lets see how California’s cities rank then.
The list is a joke, LA or Chicago used with “greenest” in the same sentence, CO2 emitted in those 2 places kills any right to greenest in any shape or form. How about top ten cities with the smallest impact on the environment?
I am from New Yrok and I know Oakland / Berkeley area has some of the most intelligent and progressive thinkers in the nation. I have visited that place few times and spoke to many people about renewable energy and protection of the enviroment and they got it all the way. We need to model the rest of the nation after those guys and learn a few things. Another note, I have never seen so many hybrid cars in my life as I saw in berkeley area, maybe every 1 out of 3 cars were hybrid automobiles.
I am a very green person, but was very sad to find mercury in the energy efficient light bulbs. It seems we have to choose between poisoning ourselves and toxic mercury all too often.
I am now looking for LED bulbs to replace all my incandescent and energy efficient bulbs.
Please take care of your health before you think globally, keeping yourself healthy reduces the burden and cost and energy expenditure. An ICU or a brain damaged by heavy metals is not good for the earth.
I was wondering if you consider hydropower renewable energy. Because we get most of our power from dams on the columbia river. Further more, Biofuels are becoming really popular in the northwest. I think portland oregon should be bumped way up this list.
In response to kali fornica’s comment,
Chicago has A TON of mass transit – subways, elevated trains, metra trains… and in addition to state laws, has a lot of environmental friendly policies. Very much unlike LA. I’m not saying it’s totally clean – no way – its a big city… but I don’t know how you can say it emits on the same level as LA – which relies heavily on cars and is well-known for its pollution.
And obviously a list of the “greenest cities” based on power source means virtually nothing. The guy from Oregon is probably right about largescale hydro putting them higher up- and Portland probably should be on the top.
Who cares about any city that is not in California?
I’ve been living in Oakland for 5 years now, and while SF has the style, Oakland has the soul. I wasn’t surprised at all to read we’re the greenest. I only have to go downtown and look at the big healthy oak tree in Frank Ogawa plaza.
I think Anchorage, Alaska would be the top city hands down…oops forgot wild frontier was actually a US State…duh!
Who cares about any city that’s not in California?
Pretty much everybody.
Ever hear of WallStreet? How about white sandy beaches where you can swim WITHOUT a wetsuit? Blues? Jazz? Affordable housing? Little Italy? The east RUNS this country, always will.
Oh yeah, who’s the governor out there again? Give me a break!
Atlanta
Still the hidden beauty of the USA.. and I hope it is always that way.
4 beautiful seasons, not infested with tourists.. great companies, great shopping… and the most accesible airport in the world.
I am from San Diego and I can’t believe it made the list. Don’t get me wrong, its a great city and I wouldn’t live anywhere else. However, for a city its size, the mass transit system is the worst in the world. Everybody here is forced to commute everywhere in order to get to their jobs. We have freeways out the yinyang that are constantly full of polluting cars.
Top ten cities , I have lived all over this country from Seattle and San Francisco to Fort Myers FL and Manhattan. There are amazing cities everywhere you go, BUT …… What city has made the most amazing transition to green in the past 50 years??? Pittsburgh , this one time polluted Industrial Giant went from The Steel Capital of the World to a green clean city. Its easy to be a Green City when starting new , but make a 180 degree about face like Pittsburgh and thats something to talk about . Green City , Amazing City Pittsburgh is my choice. PGHPA611
I would second Pittsburgh, and also Charlottesville as Green-Friendly cities. The former is my adopted hometown while i’m here at school, and I can tell you, our mass-transit system is packed to the gills during normal operating hours, the Monongahela, once little better than a cess-pool, is at least swimmable again (though nowhere near completely clean), and the air is crystal clear compared to New York or Jersey.
In a lot of ways , Pittsburgh is like an Eastern Seattle.
Charlottesville, on the other hand, is a city commited to durable-goods greenness, with sustainable development as a primary goal in any expansion in the city or Albemarle Country. Whether green-roofs, or low-impact design in new shopping centers and housing developments, definitely up there.
Great. Here are my greatest towns:
10. Awesometown.
9. Your pick.
8. My pick.
7. South Awesometown.
6. Mom’s pick.
5. West Awesometown.
4. Commerce City, CO.
3. Aurora, CO.
2. Arlington, TX.
1. Haltom City, TX.
i am sick and tired of people who don’t even know LA, ragging on it. just because LA is the go-to city when anyone in america wants to complain about our reliance on cars, doesn’t mean it’s the only one. i live in SF now, and we have just as much polluting car traffic as LA does. lucky for the bay area, though, they get it strong coastal winds that shunt all that nasty air pollution right up and over the coastal mountains and into the central valley and out of their faces.
and to the guy from chicago saying they have tons of public transportation as if it’s the only one – guess what, LA does too. subways, light rail, BRT lines, an entirely redesigned express bus system – and yes, people actually use it. LA even has a bus rider’s union that advocates for continued improvement of the bus system. nobody outside of LA reports on any of this of course, because people need a punching bag.
back when the LA’s first subway line’s build-out had begun, i remember getting in an argument with an obnoxious east coaster who was certain, though she’d never even lived in CA or LA, let alone keep up on news about the area, that LA didn’t have a subway system. i was a teenager at the time and let this obnoxious adult think she was right. she is absolutely typical of non-LA opinions of LA: completely and totally uninformed, yet totally self-righteous and holier-than-thou.