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Tuesday, March 16, 2010
News / Biz How does the Q.C. rank on the green cities index?
Posted By Rhiannon Fionn-Bowman on Tue, Mar 16, 2010 at 11:33 AM
Not too shabby considering the city's recent attempts to re-brand itself as a green-job mecca.
Charlotte ranks No. 20 among 43 U.S. metro areas in a study of the nation’s “green cities.”The Business Courier of Cincinnati, a sister publication of the Charlotte Business Journal, complied the Green Cities Index. It ranks metro areas based on environmental factors such as air and water quality, traffic congestion, transit use, carbon emissions, the number of energy-efficient buildings and green jobs.
The Charlotte-Gastonia-Concord metropolitan statistical area ranks No. 21 among the 43 markets for congestion and No. 27 for public transportation use.
The study found that 79 percent of the region’s workers drive alone to their jobs. Only 2.3 percent of the local work force uses public transit.
The region also gets low marks because of its smog, ranking No. 33 for air quality. Charlotte’s polluted streams, creeks and rivers place the region at No. 32 for water quality.
On the positive side, Charlotte placed No. 6 for its high number — 82 — of Energy Star-rated facilities. And it ranks No. 12 for the number of properties — 41 — certified under the U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED program.
The green credentials of certain local professionals also boosted the region’s overall ranking. The region rates No. 6 for its high number of LEED-accredited architects and No. 2 for LEED-accredited professionals overall.
Charlotte ranks No. 19 for generation of energy from renewable sources.
Read the rest of this Charlotte Business Journal article, by Susan Stabley, here.
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