by jbs032310c3 — March 24, 2010—The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has released its second annual list of U.S. metropolitan areas with the largest number of energy-efficient buildings that earned EPA’s Energy Star in 2009. This year, Los Angeles remains in first place; the District of Columbia picks up second; Denver and Chicago move into the top five; and Lakeland, Fla., and New York City are new to the top 10.
The Top 10 of the Top 25 Cities (.pdf file) list include: 1/ Los Angeles, Calif.; 2/ Washington, D.C.; 3/ San Francisco, Calif.; 4/ Denver, Colo.; 5/ Chicago, Ill.; 6/ Houston, Texas; 7/ Lakeland, Fla.; 8/ Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas; 9/ Atlanta, Georgia; and 10/ New York, N.Y.
Continuing the growth of the past several years, in 2009 nearly 3,900 commercial buildings across America earned the Energy Star, bringing the total to nearly 9,000 buildings since the program began in 1999, says EPA.
Overall annual utility savings have climbed to nearly $1.6 billion and greenhouse gas emissions equal to the emissions of more than 1 million homes a year have been prevented through the program, reports EPA. Thirteen types of buildings can earn the Energy Star, including schools, hospitals, office buildings and supermarkets.
Visit the Energy Star Web site to access EPA’s real-time registry of all Energy Star Labeled Buildings and Plants 1999-present; or to learn more about earning the Energy Star for commercial buildings.
