Save and Conserve

Per Boston.com, there is a new book that ranks the 50 bigggest American cities in terms of "green-ness" ... also known as the amount of its electricity that is generated using renewable sources of power. Information about the book and - presumably - ways to purchase the book can be found at HowGreenIsYourCity.com.

Unfortunately, the full ranking of the cities does not seem to be available online. However, the Boston.com piece included a few nuggets:

Boston ranks high among US cities when it comes to using renewable energy, the only East Coast city to make the top 10, according to a new study. Oakland, Calif., topped the list, with 17 percent of its municipal electricity drawn from renewable energy sources. Boston ranked fourth on the list, with 8.6 percent of its electricity coming from renewable energy sources. Three California cities tied for second place on the list - Sacramento, San Francisco, and San Jose, which all got 12 percent of their municipal electricity from renewable sources. Other non-West Coast cities to make the top 10 list included Austin, Texas; Minneapolis; and Chicago.

Update: Renewable Energy Access provides more stats on the top 10; I updated the table below.

So the top 10 looks like:

1. Oakland, CA - 17% renewable
2. Sacramento/San Francisco/San Jose, CA - 12%
3. Portland, OR - 10%
4. Boston, MA - 8.6%
5. San Diego, CA - 8%
6. Austin, TX - 6%
7. Los Angeles, CA - 5%
8. Minneapolis, MN - 5%
9. Seattle, WA - 3.5%
10. Chicago, IL - 3%

Source: SustainLane U.S. City Rankings data 2006/2007