California Leads Green Rush
Surprisingly, Oakland tops list of cities drawing more juice from renewable energy. 
by Andrea Quong
April 17, 2007
Call it the green rush. Californian cities are leading the way to a rosy future based on renewable energy, a survey of the nation’s 50 largest cities has found.
Renewable energy use, defined as the energy used to power the grid, is on the rise in some American cities, according to SustainLane, the San Francisco-based company that tracks the sustainability of cities and which also conducted the survey. But, among the top 10 cities that draw most on renewable energy sources such as wind, solar, small-scale hydro and geothermal, four are located in California.
Prompted by state mandates, city governments are increasingly weaving renewable energy into the fabric of their power grids. “You have this common thread,” said Warren Karlenzig, chief strategy officer at SustainLane, which publishes an Internet information clearinghouse for state and local governments on sustainability.
In California, Oakland tops the list with 17 percent of its grid generated by renewable energy. Its proximity to wind farms partially upped its ranking, according to Mr. Karlenzig. And the midsize city also draws on solar farms, run by the state utility Pacific Gas and Electric, and small-scale hydro power located in the Sierra Nevadas, he added.
Sacramento, which has the largest number of residential and business solar units in the country, tied with San Francisco and San Jose for second place. Twelve percent of their grids are powered by renewable energy.
Portland, Oregon came in third after totting up a 10 percent renewable energy ranking. It was trailed by Boston, at 8.6 percent. Not surprisingly, only 5 percent of the energy used for electricity in Los Angeles was generated by renewable sources. And though New York City is testing technology that harnesses tidal currents in the East River, it’s off the radar.
Also, the green rush isn’t confined to California. In Austin, Texas, where residents and businesses can opt for renewable energy, the city not only supplies electricity from the grid via renewable sources―mainly wind―but it also allows startups with innovative technologies to use the grid as a testing ground, Mr. Karlenzig said.
More Greenbacks for Startups
In the future, cities yearning for more green will get a much-needed push from startups. U.S. venture investments in energy-technology startups nearly tripled to $2.4 billion in 2006, according to an annual report put out by cleantech research and publishing firm, Clean Edge. It also predicted that the global market for solar cells will grow from $15.6 billion in 2006 to $69.3 billion in 2016, and the wind power market will increase from $17.9 billion in 2006 to $60.8 billion in 2016.
That massive trend will eventually translate into a rush of greenbacks for alternative energy startups, like Palo Alto, California-based solar cell-maker, Nanosolar, and GreenVolts, a Berkeley, California-based maker of rooftop solar-electric systems.
