when it comes to renewable energy. The city of Corvallis, Oregon, is No. 1 when it comes to purchasing green power, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Green Power Communities Program.
The city of 55,000, about 90 minutes from Portland, purchases 13 percent of its electricity from environmentally-friendly sources, or more than 100 million kilowatts (100,000 megawatts). The largest purchaser of renewable juice there is Oregon State University, thanks to a “green fee” passed by students in 2007. The sources include wind, solar, geothermal, biogas, biomass and low-impact hydro, according to city officials.