Top 25 US Cities for Energy Star Buildings
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released its annual list of U.S. metropolitan areas with the most Energy Star certified buildings for the year of 2011, with Los Angeles, Washington, DC, and Atlanta taking the top 3 spots.
According to the EPA, by the end of 2011, there were nearly 16,500 Energy Star certified buildings across the United States, which had helped to save nearly $2.3 billion in annual utility bills and prevented greenhouse gas emissions equal to emissions from the annual energy use of more than 1.5 million homes.
“More and more organizations are discovering the value of Energy Star as they work to cut costs and reduce their energy use,” said EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson. “This year marked the twentieth anniversary of the Energy Star program, and today Energy Star certified buildings in cities across America are helping to strengthen local economies and protect the planet for decades to come.”
The list was first released back in 2008 when Los Angeles topped the list, where it has remained ever since. Washington, DC. continues to hold second spot for the third year in a row, while Atlanta — with the third spot — has climbed up from the sixth spot in 2010.
Boston and Riverside (California) broke into the top ten, while Tampa (Florida), Colorado Springs (Colorado), and Salt Lake City (Utah) are all new to the list of 25 in 2011. California had a total of six cities on the list for 2011, more than any other state. Here’s the full list:
A commercial building that earns an Energy Star rating must perform in the top 25 percent of similar buildings nationwide and be independently verified by a licensed professional engineer or a registered architect.
Buildings which are Energy Star certified have been found to use an average of 35 percent less energy and are responsible for 35 percent less carbon dioxide emissions than typical buildings.
Source: Environmental Protection Agency
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This report would have been even better with one more piece of data. A ranking based on percent of sqft. It would be a little more level field. A “small” city like Cincinnati or Colorado Spring will likely never have more buildings (of any type) than a big town like L.A, Boston, DC. So a ranking based on percent of Sqft that is Energy Star might be very different.
Yeah, I know, would be nice if it were put in relative terms of some sort or another, like % of spft.