Albuquerque, NM is the greenest city in the U.S., and that's not just my opinion!

Last Saturday, Albuquerque won the Mayor's Climate Protection Award at the U.S. Conference of Mayors in Los Angeles, beating out 90 other large cities, including Seattle, Portland, and many others.

Albuquerque's bid for this honor centered round the "Albuquerque Green" program that was created in late 2006 to consolidate numerous city environmental projects. Albuquerque has been working hard to reduce greenhouse gases, thought to contribute to global warming. Statistics indicated that the city has succeeded in reducing greenhouse gas emmissions by 67% since the year 2000. 

Albuquerque is considered to be on track for another ambitions goal: that of having all new buildings by carbon neutral and powered by renewable energy by 2030!

Some other green achievements in Albuquerque recently include the reductionsof natural gas use by 42% and of refrigerants by 95%. The city now claims 15% or city government electricity is provided by wind power.

Albuquerque has recently wond several other environmental awards, too, including the World LEadership award for water conservation in New Mexico, and the city was once singled out by former President Clinton as the city likeliest to be first to reach its sustainability goals.