Oakland is greenest city, Boston best in East

An online green tech Web site surveyed the major city governments across the U.S. to see which ones made the most use of renewable energy for city operations.

According to SustainLane's government site, Oakland, Calif., gets 17 percent of its energy use from renewable sources. California cities Sacramento, San Jose and San Francisco are next with 12 percent renewable-energy use. The rest of the Top 10 list, in descending order: Portland, Ore. (10 percent); Boston (8.6 percent); San Diego (8 percent); Austin, Texas, (6 percent); Los Angeles (5 percent); Minneapolis (4.5 percent); Seattle (3.5 percent); and Chicago (2.5 percent).

SustainLane says there has been a dramatic increase in local government's use of renewable energy.