Vermont city, one of the least sunny places in America, makes unexpected appearance on top 10 list
Burlington, Vermont, and Honolulu, Hawaii, don’t appear together in many top-five weather-related lists. (Burlington - AP Photo/Lisa Rathke; Honolulu - Getty Images)
Burlington, Vermont, and Honolulu, Hawaii, don’t appear together in many top-five weather-related lists. Considering they’re only 4,940 miles apart -- and that Sicily, Italy, is closer to Burlington -- that’s not surprising.
But the two are among the top major U.S. cities for solar energy per capita, according to a sixth annual report released by Environment America Research & Policy Center that examines installed solar photovoltaic (PV) capacity in 69 major U.S. cities.
Honolulu is the runaway number one, followed by San Diego, San Jose, Burlington, and Las Vegas. Phoenix is sixth, ahead of Indianapolis, Riverside, Denver, and Albuquerque.
“Public policy helps to drive solar installation,” Bret Fanshaw, the center’s Go Solar Campaign Director told AccuWeather. “Across the board, we see places that have leaned into solar, they have good policies, and their leaders have committed to solar installation.”
As proof, less likely places like Burlington (No. 4), Indianapolis (No. 7), Washington, D.C., (No. 15) and Newark (No. 16) cracked the top 20.
The public policy impact is especially true with Burlington, considering it's situated in Chittenden County, one of the least sunny counties in America, ranking 3,106th out of 3,111 counties in the contiguous U.S. in terms of average daily sunlight, according to NASA-based data used by the CDC.
Burlington city officials, however, in recent years have overseen the installation of a sprawling network of solar panels at its airport that takes maximum advantage of the modest amounts of sunshine the area gets -- and helped win the city the distinction of becoming "America's first all-renewable-energy city."
Still, a lot of sunlight helps, too.
“As mayor, I am proud that Honolulu continues to lead the nation with the highest solar PV capacity per capita,” Mayor Kirk Caldwell said in a statement. “O’ahu residents are making great use of one of our most abundant resources, the beautiful Hawaiian sunshine.”
The sunniest counties in America are located in California, Arizona and Florida, according to the NASA-based CDC data, which does not include Alaska or Hawaii. The top four counties are all in California -- Imperial, Riverside, Santa Barbara and San Diego -- followed by La Paz County in Arizona.
“In California, the latitude is pretty low, so you get a stronger sun angle, a higher sun angle,” said AccuWeather meteorologist Dave Samuhel. “Imperial County is in the desert and they don’t get the low morning clouds that occur in the Los Angeles basin. It’s sunny all the time there.”
The solar energy usage report also notes that the U.S. now has more than 60 gigawatts of solar PV capacity installed, which is enough to power nearly one in 11 homes in America. Plus, the amount of solar power installed in just 20 U.S. cities exceeds the amount installed in the entire U.S. at the end of 2010.
“The progress has been pretty amazing,” Fanshaw told AccuWeather. “But we’re still at just a fraction of what’s possible.”
Here are the top 10 sunniest counties in the U.S. in terms of average daily sunlight, according to NASA-based data used by the CDC, not counting Alaska and Hawaii, which are not included in NASA’s data.
1. Imperial County, CA
2. Riverside County, CA
3. Santa Barbara County, CA
4. San Diego County, CA
5. La Paz County, AZ
6. Monroe County, FL
7. Pima County, AZ
8. Yuma County, AZ
9. Maricopa County, AZ
10. Brevard County, FL
