Boston, San Francisco and Seattle have ranked the highest on a national Clean Energy Scorecard for their renewable energy and energy efficiency policies.
The American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy’s survey of 75 major U.S. cities found municipal governments have enacted more than 265 clean energy initiatives since 2017.
“Cities are not waiting on anyone else, they are moving ahead to take action on their own and if you study specific examples you can see that,” David Ribeiro, the council’s senior research manager, told The Washington Times.
However, while 48 cities have set goals to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, only 11 are on track to achieve those quotas, according to the nonprofit research group’s fourth annual scorecard.
“All cities have considerable room for improvement, even those ranked in the top tier,” the council report says.
According to the federal Energy Information Administration, U.S. consumption of fossil fuels reached a record high last year. 2018’s increase was the largest, as a total figure and as a percentage, since 2010.
Urban power grids were strained to the breaking point last month during a heat wave that baked the country from the Midwest to East Coast.
Air conditioning use triggered power outages in parts of New York City, prompting Gov. Andrew Cuomo to say he lacked confidence in the city’s leading utility, Con Edison.
In its 282-page report, the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy ranked cities on five policy areas: local government operations, community-wide initiatives, buildings, energy and water utilities, and transportation.
Boston topped the overall scorecard for the second year in a row. The rest of the top 10 were, in order: San Francisco; Seattle; Minneapolis; Washington, D.C.; New York City; Los Angeles; Denver; Austin, Texas; and Portland, Oregon.
Mr. Ribeiro, the report’s lead author, said researchers found some flawed polices but also discovered commendable initiatives such as Washington’s Clean Energy Omnibus Act, which requires the nation’s capital to operate only on renewable energy by 2032.
“From the standpoint of promoting good business, any energy-savings is good business because it’s always cheaper to save energy than to create new energy,” he added.
The report also noted three cities to watch as emerging leaders based on “adopting several major clean energy policies and programs since early 2017.”
Those cities: Cincinnati, which aims to be 100% renewable energy by 2035; Providence, Rhode Island, where officials are increasing clean energy investments in low-income communities; and Hartford, Connecticut, where zoning regulations have been updated for the first time in 50 years.
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