America's Top 50 Greenest Cities

Woohoo...Popular Science magazine has rated America's Top 50 Greenest Cities and the Bay Area dominated!

They used data from the U.S. Census Bureau and the National Geographic Society’s Green Guide, which reviews all American cities of over 100,000 people in more than 30 categories, including air quality, electricity use and transportation habits. They then compiled these statistics into four broad categories:

Electricity: Judging the use of renewable sources such as wind, solar, biomass and hydroelectric power and incentive offerings for residents to invest in their own power sources.

Transportation: These scores are based on how many commuters take public transportation or carpool and on air quality.

Green Living: This is based on the number of buildings certified by the U.S. Green Building Council and for areas devoted to green space, such as public parks and nature preserves.

Recycling and Green Perspective: These measure how comprehensive a city’s recycling program is (if the city collects old electronics, for example) and how important its citizens consider environmental issues.

And the winners are...dun dun dun...

1. Portland, OR
2. SAN FRANCISCO, CA
3. Boston, MA
4. OAKLAND, CA
5. Eugene, OR
6. Cambridge, MA
7. BERKELEY, CA
8. Seattle, WA
9. Chicago, IL
10. Austin, TX

That puts the Bay Area in THREE of the Top 10 places! Good job, folks, and keep it coming. Maybe next year we can make San Francisco number ONE!