88%
PORTION OF
ELECTRICITY
IN SEATTLE
GENERATED BY
HYDROPOWER26 MONEY.COM MARCH^2019
GREEN LIVINGRetiring the
sustainable way:
a scenic ride
alongside the
Charles River in
Cambridge, Mass.2
CAMBRIDGE, MASS.
This midsize city is best known for the storied
academic institutions that call it home: Harvard
University and MIT. Student culture makes walking,
biking, and public transit the norm, and the city’s historic
squares are built for just about anything but cars. Almost 70%
of Cambridge residents commute in a sustainable way, as the
city goes to great lengths to protect walkers and bikers.
Cambridge is intentionally sculpting sidewalks around trees—to
cut down on dangerous buckling—and improving lighting near
schools, senior housing, and senior centers as part of its City of
Cambridge Pedestrian Plan. There’s a bike path along the
Charles River as well as the Linear Park path, not to mention the
many streets that sport bike lanes. Cambridge also co-owns the
Blue Bikes bike-share system, launched in 2012. Since then,
riders have traveled more than 9 million miles, reducing carbon
dioxide emissions by 6 million pounds. To further such
sustainable transportation, the Cambridge City Council released
a Vision Zero Action Plan in 2018, designed to make biking and
walking safer.
3
PORTLAND, ORE.
West Coast cities sometimes
get a bad rap among retirees
because of their relatively
poor air quality, high cost of living, and
traffic concerns, but LEED-certified
Portland shows the Left Coast can still
be the best coast. Portland holds itself
accountable not only for growth but
also for ecological planning. As outlined
in the city’s Sustainable City Principles,
Portland aims to recover 90% of waste
from its operations by 2030, cut energy
use by 2% annually, and reduce city-
operation carbon emissions by 53%
from 2007 levels. Portland has a long
history of such initiatives with its
expansive network of bike paths, and
the city encourages green roofs with
vegetation. What’s more, Portland
gives you access to the West Coast
lifestyle without the housing-cost
anxiety. The Zillow Home Value Index
sets Portland at $400,000, which,
while not cheap, is well below the
$1.3 million of San Jose, the $967,000
of San Francisco, and the $649,000 of
Los Angeles.4
SEATTLE
Dubbed “the Emerald City,”
Seattle prides itself on
literally being green. Its
infamously cloudy skies and at least
some precipitation for nearly half the
year help keep lawns lush. But the city
is also figuratively green, finding itself
ranked most livable by AARP as well as
LEED-certified. The city ranks 11th in
the ParkScore index, owing to a variety
of factors, ranging from parkland per
capita to investment in parks.
Meanwhile, the city is moving away
from fossil fuels much faster than most
others in the U.S. Seattle generated
88% of its electrical needs from
hydropower and 4% from wind, with
just 1% from coal and 1% from natural
gas in 2016, the latest data available.
Seattle’s reliance on clean hydropower
is much higher than that of most
cities: Hydro provides less than
10% of electrical power generation
nationwide.BR
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