Massachusetts Named #2 Most Green State In New England
Wednesday, July 17, 2013
The site’s “How Green is My State” infographic ranks each state’s environmental impact based on seven different categories: mass transit, renewables, recycling, water quality, air quality, gas, and carbon dioxide.
Falling behind top ranked #15 Maine, Massachusetts is the second best New England state in its overall greenness. While the Bay State may sit in the bottom half of the national rankings, it still fairs better than the rest of the region in terms of overall environmental impact--Vermont at #36 followed by New Hampshire at #38 and Rhode Island with the least green rank of #47.
The “How Green is My States” study created its ranking based on the data collected from a variety of sources such as goodguide.com and state energy, waste, transportation, and environmental management agencies. Each state was also given a separate ranking in seven different environmental categories ranging from use of renewable energy to availability of public transportation.
The first sub-category, mass transit, measured residents per method of mass transit with railways weighted higher. Renewables measured as renewable energy in billions of British thermal unit (BTUs), recycling as the percentage of waste recycled, water quality as the percentage of surface waters with impaired or threatened uses, air quality as pounds of carcinogens released to air, and gasoline consumption as per capita gasoline use in gallons. Co2 was the last sub-category and measured annual carbon dioxide emissions in metric tons.
Massachusetts’s best sub-category rating was #16 for both recycling and air quality. According to the study, the state recycles 27.45% of its wastes and 235,220 pounds of carcinogens are released to the air. For water quality, Massachusetts came in at #40 with 18.14 percent of its surface waters with impaired or threatened uses.
See how all the New England states ranked for every category, below.
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