According to a report released by the Brookings Institution, Los Angeles is the most carbon efficient major city in the country(besides Honoulu). And although it may seem suprising that, in a vacuum, this car obsessed, air conditioning using, sprawling, coal powered Ecology of Fear could be so green, it actually makes quite a bit of sense.

For one, Los Angeles is reasonably dense. Because the LA basin itself is hemmed in by the Hollywood Hills and the Ocean, a huge number of people live in a rather smallish area. Even the San Fernando Valley, the image of horrible sprawl, is surrounded by hills that retard further development. Secondly, lots of West coast areas did well because of their temperate climates which require less heating. Heating, because it raises temperatures from very cold to bearable requires a lot more energy than air conditioning, which lowers temepratures from very hot to bearable. (The actual degree change, and thus energy expended, is much less).  

Although there are some caveats - the survey used statewide averages for carbon emitted by power sources and it didn't include far-flung LA suburbs like Riverisde and San Bernadino counties - it still shows that there's something about the West coast combination of density and temperate weather that allows for relatively green living arrangments. 

The official results are in, and not a lot of schools are living up to green/sustainable standards that the Sustainable Endowments Institute thinks they should.

The annual report card says, basically, that only Dartmouth, Carlton and Williams scored at least an A- across the three main categories.  But overall, the report card says that vast improvements are being made, with 68% of schools improving their overall grade. Green building policies are increasing in popularity, and the percentage of schools that has committed to reducing their carbon emissions has more than tripled.