Popular Science Magazine just came out with a list of America's Top Green Cities. Austin hat the #10 spot.  The magazine used data from U.S. Census Bureau and the National Geographic Society’s Green Guide for cities of greater than 100,000 residents.  There were 30 categories used in the ranking and then summarized scores in four areas, which were electricity, transportation, green living and recycling.  Click the link above for details and rankings.

One thing I want to see more of is rainfall harvesting.  There are quite a few homes that do this and use the water collected for irrigation.  Some also filter and purify the water for general household use.  With more and more pumping of water out of Lake Travis and various aquifers, I am quite nervous about Austin's water supply over the next 30+ years.  More home builders and commercial builders need some type of motivation to capture and use rain water.

Another thing I would like to see is the re-use of grey water.  This is water that comes from drains in sinks, tubs, showers and the washing machine.  The simplest thing to do with this water is use it for irrigation.  Green builders can also plumb a new house in such a way so that grey water can be used for things like flushing toilets.