Which areas of the country have the greenest living spaces?

It is NOT Montana I'm sorry to say. I have gone to the dumpsters of builders and could build most of a house with what is throwen away!

Dear GreenMasta,

Aron B here from BGTV. I can only say it all depends upon your definition of "green". Is it healthy buildings, resource efficiency (close proximity to public utilities, food, schools, etc.), or dense or smart growth developments? My guess, it is a combination of all three. Austin, TX seems to have a good thing going.

Also, take a look at the USGBC's website. You might find some information on the latest trend for US Cities who "Go Green". I'm not sure of their guidelines, but it is a very interesting trend I would place into a policy category called "supercompliance".

"Go Green" ----------------- Aron Buterbaugh Building Green TV Contributor aronb@buildinggreentv.com Meeting House Designs Principal 192 Mussey Street South Portland, Maine 04106 aron@meetinghousedesigns.com

I think one of the messages we here at Building Green have been working to get across is that your home's interior environment plays a greater role in your overall health than anything else. Obviously you don't want to live on the banks of a Love Canal, but indoor air quality, for example, is often far worse than that outside, even in relatively green locales. So I'd still vote for choosing my location by subjective rather than statistical factors (proximity to family, job and recreation opportunitites), and working to green my environment from the inside out.

That said, I'd mention that Portland is an extremely green place, based on personal, anecdotal experience (ie, I grew up there). There are so many trees scrubbing the air that you could practically get oxygen poisoning. And rush hour looks like Beijing, there are so many bikes on the road.

I don't have any hard data but you can find some interesting proxies by using Google trends-- top searches for various green-related terms indicate that Seattle, Portland OR, Austin, San Francisco are big green building markets. No big surprises there. Interestingly, Pittsburg PA shows up on some of those lists (no offense Pittsburg).  

- maxmsf