Austin Ranked as the 14th Greenest City in the Country

Austin takes pride in it focus on going green and its efforts have been paying off.  In fact, the Austin Business Journal reports that the city has been ranked as the 14th greenest city in the United States by the website SustainLane.com.  Not only did the city manage to land a high spot on the list, it also moved up one spot from the list put out by SustaineLane in 2006.

In order to rank the cities throughout the country, SustaineLane considered a number of different factors.  These included ranking the city's ability to maintain healthy drinking water and air as well as its public transit systems and parks.  The site also considered each city's sustainable local economy with green building, its renewable energy sources, its use of alternative fuels and its farmers markets.  

The site applauded Austin because the city "took a decisive step toward becoming the planet's 'Carbon-Neutral Capital' when it adopted an aggressive climate protection plan in 2007."  According to the plan, the city intends to have all of its facilities, operations, utilities and vehicle fleets operating on a carbon neutral level by 2020.  

The other cities on the list, in order, included:

•    Portland, Oregon
•    San Francisco, California
•    Seattle, Washington
•    Chicago, Illinois
•    New York, New York
•    Boston, Massachusetts
•    Minneapolis, Minnesota
•    Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
•    Oakland, California
•    Baltimore, Maryland
•    Denver, Colorado
•    Milwaukee, Wisconsin

For a complete list of cities that made the list and why they made it as well as a look at those that are doing the worst in the country, visit the SustainLane website.