The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) released the top ten states in terms of LEED certified building square footage per capita for 2010 last week. Washington DC tops the list, with almost 2 1/2 times the amount of LEED space as the second place state, Nevada. DC has over 25 square feet of LEED certified building space per person, while Nevada has almost 11.
“Using per capita, versus the more traditional numbers of projects, or pure square footage, is a reminder to all of us that the people who live and work, learn and play in buildings should be what we care about most,” said USGBC SVP of LEED, Scot Horst. “2010 was a difficult year for most of the building industry, but in many areas, the hunger for sustainable development kept the markets moving.”
The top LEED states per capita, including the District of Columbia:
- District of Columbia: 25.15 sf
- Nevada: 10.92 sf
- New Mexico: 6.35 sf
- New Hampshire: 4.49 sf
- Oregon: 4.07 sf
- South Carolina: 3.19 sf
- Washington: 3.16 sf
- Illinois: 3.09 sf
- Arkansas: 2.9 sf
- Colorado: 2.85 sf
According to USGBC, notable newly certified projects in 2010 include the Susitna Valley Jr./Sr. High School in Talkeetna, Ark.; the Wells Fargo Center in Denver, Colo.; the two International Monetary Fund (IMF) headquarters buildings in downtown Washington, D.C, which earned LEED certification for the operations and maintenance of an existing building; Parc Huron multi-use residential property in Chicago, Ill.; the Edina Crosstown Medical Building in Edina, Minn.; Barcelona Elementary School in Albuquerque, N.M.; Centennial Hills Library in Las Vegas, Nev.; The Allison Inn & Spa in Newberg, Ore.; KPMG: Greenville in S.C.; and multiple fire stations and the Bank of America Fifth Avenue Plaza in Seattle, Wash.
Of the projects represented on the list, the most common project type was commercial office and the most common owner type was for-profit organization. The cities most represented in the list were Chicago and Washington, D.C.
USGBC’s LEED green building certification system is the foremost program for the design, construction, operation and maintenance of green buildings. Over 40,000 projects are currently participating in the commercial and institutional LEED rating systems, comprising over 7.9 billion square feet of construction space in all 50 states and 117 countries. In addition, nearly 10,000 homes have been certified under the LEED for Homes rating system, with nearly 45,000 more homes registered.
Photo courtesy of Seansie.
