Austin, Dallas and Houston and all ranked high on the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) list of metro regions with energy-efficient (LEED) buildings. Houston ranked highest among Texas towns at number six; Dallas came in at number eight; and Austin ranked number 18.
According to the EPA report, changes in approaches to construction resulted consumers saving close to $1.6 billion in overall annual utility costs, according to the report, which also mentions that greenhouse gases that would have equaled the emissions of more than one million homes a year also have decreased as a result of smarter, energy efficient home building.
Austin, which arguably is considered to be the state’s “greenest city,” made the EPA’s list with a total of 55 Energy Star buildings, but fell below Dallas and Houston, ranking No. 18. By comparison, Los Angeles, the city that ranked number one (amazing, really, if you think about the typical smog problems in Southern California) with 293 Energy Star buildings equaling 76 million square feet of space.
Meanwhile, Houston had 133 Energy Star-rated buildings, with Dallas’ count reaching 113, according to the EPA press release.
Additionally, the District of Columbia picks up second; Denver and Chicago move into the top five; and Lakeland and New York City are new to the top 10, according to an EPA press release.
“These cities see the importance of taking action on climate change,” EPA Office Assistant Administrator of Air and Radiation Gina McCarthy said in a prepared statement. “Communities from Los Angeles to Louisville are reducing greenhouse gases and cutting energy bills with buildings that have earned EPA’s Energy Star.”
A Dallas Business Journal reported that, “Nearly 9,000 buildings in the United States had earned the rating by the end of 2009 — a 40 percent increase from the previous year’s total. The EPA reports that overall annual utility savings are nearly $1.6 billion and greenhouse gas emissions equal to the emissions of more than 1 million homes a year have been prevented.”
The complete list of the top 25 cities in the U.S. is available online here
REFERENCES
Dallas Ranks 8th on Green Building List (Dallas Business Journal)
EPA Press Release on the Top 25 U.S. Cities with the Most Energy Efficient Buildings
RESOURCES
