EL CERRITO –– The city has made a list of communities nationwide that are being recognized for their commitment to the use of renewable energy, ranking No. 13 in the country for the percentage of green power compared with electricity from other sources.
The recognition came with the release of the Environmental Protection Agency’s Green Power Community Rankings in October.
El Cerrito moved to the green power option when it joined San Rafael-based Marin Clean Energy in 2015.
Other MCE cities and counties on the list of 67 include Fairfax, unincorporated Marin County, Belvedere, Tiburon, Ross, San Anselmo, Corte Madera, Mill Valley, Sausalito, Novato, San Rafael and Larkspur. Richmond ranked No. 25.
El Cerrito is currently at 29.3 percent in its use of green energy citywide.
MCE’s Deep Green option derives all of its electricity from wind and solar energy sources in California while the Light Green option gets 50 percent of its energy from renewable sources such as biogas, biomass, geothermal, hydro, solar or wind.
Half of the penny per kilowatt-hour premium MCE customers pay compared with PG&E is used to finance the start-up costs of new solar projects built within its service area.
