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Top Eco Friendly US Cities to Buy a Home

If you’re concerned with the environment, you know that the place you call home must also take environmental sustainability very seriously. Living in a city with an extensive carbon footprint can make you feel like all of your efforts aren’t making any difference. You also won’t see the results of all your work as clearly. It’s hard to be eco friendly living in a smog-covered urban sprawl, or surrounded by oil pipelines. But if you do a bit of research, you will find that there are many places that take the environment as seriously as you do. These cities work hard to put renewable energy to work, containing and reducing air pollution, and focusing their new construction efforts on environmentally sustainable buildings. Of course, not every city will make each issue equally important, so you’ll have to decide which are the must-haves for your life. But here are a few cities you should consider if you’re looking for the top eco friendly US cities to buy your next home.

First on the list are three cities that work hard to abate greenhouse gas emissions. The Urban Land Institute works to identify the best cities, and has determined that San Francisco tops the list. They’re showing the lowest amount of pollution due to greenhouse gases of any large city in the country. Surprisingly enough, New York City and Philadelphia are next on the list. So if you crave the big city life, start with one of these three. Each of them has a minimum amount of urban sprawl, which allows for a city’s primary services to be centrally located. That means fewer cars, and less greenhouse gases.

If you’re more interested in cities that are focusing their efforts on alternative sources of energy, check with the cities that work with the Environmental Protection Agency’s Green Power Partnership. Cities can cut down on their carbon footprint by purchasing green power, and all three leaders in this area are in Texas. The energy industry has always thrived in Texas, but now they are finally turning their attention away from oil into alternate fuels. Take a look at Houston, Austin and Dallas to see this work in action. Washington DC also puts a lot of money into green energy, specifically power generated by wind.

When you want to look at building practices, and feel the need to invest your money in those forward-thinking cities, check out locations the EPA acknowledges with its Energy Star Certified designation. That means a city government is going beyond the basic minimum energy efficiency requirements. In that department, Los Angeles leads the way. Washington DC and Atlanta are the next best cities when it comes to building structures that minimize carbon emissions.

So now you know you can do much worse than hunting down Fort Worth homes for sale, Austin condos for sale, or New York apartments for rent. And in fact, New York may top the list of eco friendly cities across all areas. But the other cities you should certainly keep in mind are San Francisco, Dallas, Houston, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, Washington DC and Atlanta.

Clay Miller
the authorClay Miller
I am the creator/writer of Ways2GoGreen.com and Ways2GoGreenBlog.com. I'm an advocate for oceans, beaches, state parks. I enjoy all things outdoors (e.g. running, golf, gardening, hiking, etc.) I am a graduate of the University of Kentucky (Go Wildcats!!). I'm also a huge fan of the Pittsburgh Steelers. I was born and raised in the beautiful state of Kentucky.

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