Colorado has plenty of room to grow in renewable energy. The Mother Nature Network doesn’t place any Colorado cities in the top 10 green U.S. cities blog. Fort Collins needs to ramp up FortZed and Boulder needs to roll out the smart grid faster if we are going to catch up with Austin or Portland, Oregon.
On the other hand, almost everything that puts Portland at the top of the list is also true in Fort Collins.
"The city of microbrewery mania and home to megastore Powell's Books — one of the few remaining independent booksellers in the country — is No. 1 in sustainability. Declared the most bikeable city in the United States for its 200 miles of dedicated bike lanes, Portland certainly makes forgoing gas-powered travel easy. And for lessons in DIY sustainable food sources, classes are available for container gardening and cheese making, or beekeeping and chicken keeping."
Replace Powell's with Old Firehouse Books and the paragraph could cover Fort Collins. Maybe you're not so trail-blazing, Portland.
The list is otherwise commendable for covering a broad variety of sustainability measures rather than focusing solely on energy or another specific criterion.
• Austin was cited for pledging to go carbon-neutral by next year. The whole city. There are 1.6 million people in the Austin metro area. Granted, the whole area won't go carbon-neutral, but some of the renewable energy and energy savings will have to bleed over into surrounding cities. And don't forget Austin gets painfully hot in the summer — and air conditioning takes a LOT of power.
• Chicago has developed and encouraged green roofs — tops of buildings that support vegetable gardens and other carbon-eating plants.
• Oakland, Calif., apparently has a there there, to paraphrase Gertrude Stein. Raider town plans to have zero waste and become oil independent by 2020. Step it up, Broncos fans.
Fore more articles on Colorado Energy: Heartland Energy Colorado | Heartland Energy
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