Concord: One of America’s Greenest Cities

As interest in global warming, er, heats up, it’s good to know that Contra Costa County is getting greener. Concord is an outstanding example: this year, it was named one of America’s 50 greenest cities by Popular Science magazine. The article appears in the March edition of the magazine.

Cities got points for drawing energy from renewable sources such as wind, solar, biomass and hydroelectric as well as for offering residents incentives for investing in their own power sources, such as solar panels. Portland, San Francisco and Boston ranked one, two and three respectively. Concord ranked number 43.

Not only that, last week, the city’s mayor, Gwen Regalia, had an energy-conserving remote switch, SmartAC, installed in her home by Pacific Gas & Electric that will lower her air conditioning use during peak demand periods as a good example to all. Here’s some recent sales near the Concord BART station, giving an idea of how much it might cost to live in a green city and have a green commute: (Photo of CoCo County landmark Mt. Diablo: zevak)

1697 Ashbury Drive, Concord: 2 bedrooms/1 bath, 816 sq ft, sold for $207,000 on March 26. This little place is only about seven or eight blocks from BART and is one of the least expensive properties nearby.

1824 Devon Court, Concord: 2 bedrooms/1 bath, 816 sq ft, sold for $240,000 on Feb. 15. Next lowest price per square foot in this neighborhood near BART.

1713 Ravenwood Drive, Concord: 3 bedrooms/1 bath, 1,297 sq ft, sold for $351,000 on Feb. 20. With each of these, we’re going up on the price per square foot.

2165 Leland Way, Concord: 3 bedrooms/1 bath, 1,024 sq ft, sold for $391,500 on Feb. 1.