Environment

Green Innovation

Region Still Number One in Residential Solar Power

New policies and innovations are driving a shift from the use of carbon-based energy sources to alternative sources, clean technology, and increased energy efficiency. This indicator uses the Green Innovation Index to measure San Bernardino County’s progress in achieving sustainable economic growth. The Green Innovation Index provides statewide rankings of 26 metro areas on several measures of green innovation: installed solar capacity, clean vehicle rebates, and electricity consumption per capita.1

New policies and innovations are driving a shift from the use of carbon-based energy sources to alternative sources, clean technology, and increased energy efficiency.

TREND

In 2018, Riverside-San Bernardino ranked first out of 26 California metro areas for the most kilowatts of installed residential solar power. Riverside-San Bernardino was also a statewide leader in commercial and industrial solar power installations, ranking 2nd on both categories. Riverside-San Bernardino continues to hold its position as 5th out of 26 in the number of clean vehicle rebates issued in 2018. In terms of the lowest residential electricity consumption per capita, Riverside-San Bernardino ranked 18 out of 26 metros in 2017, which is an improvement over the prior year (20th), but a drop since 2015 when the region ranked 14th. The region is 7th in the state for the lowest non-residential electricity consumption in 2017 – a slight improvement from 8th the previous year.

Selected Green Innovation Metrics Ranking Among 26 California Metro Areas

Selected Metro Areas, 2017 or 2018
San BernardinoRiversideLos AngelesOrangeSan Diego
Most Solar Generation Capacity per Capita: Residential32541
Most Solar Generation Capacity per Capita: Other/Unknown31542
Most Solar Installations per Capita: Residential32541
Most Solar Installations per Capita: Other/Unknown23541
Lowest Electricity Consumption per Capita: Residential35241
Lowest Electricity Consumption per Capita: Non-Residential25431
Lowest Natural Gas Consumption per Capita: Residential53421
Lowest Natural Gas Consumption per Capita: Non-Residential51432
Most Electric Vehicle Registrations per Capita54312
Most Hydrogen Fuel Cell Vehicle Registrations per Capita45213
Most Hybrid Vehicle Registrations per Capita54312

Note: Solar installation and clean vehicle rebate data are from 2018. Electricity consumption data are from 2017.

Source: Next10, California Green Innovation Index, 2019

Best Rank 1-5 | 6-10 | 11-16 | 17-21 | 22-26 Worst Rank
1The 2020 Green Innovation Index report from Next10 did not include regional data rankings as in previous years; therefore, the data in this indicator are the same as those reported in the 2019 Community Indicators Report. Regional rankings may be conducted in subsequent Green Innovation Index reports.