D.C. and Nevada top the list for LEED-certified space per capita

The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) released a list of states and cities with the most LEED-certified projects in 2010.

By Source: USGBC March 2, 2011

The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) (www.usgbc.org) released its 2010 list of top 10 states for LEED-certified commercial and institutional green buildings per capita, based on the U.S. 2010 Census information. The District of Columbia leads the nation with 25 sq ft of LEED-certified space per person in 2010, with Nevada being the leading state, with 10.92 sq ft per person in 2010. 

Other top states include New Mexico, New Hampshire and Oregon with more than 6 and 4 sq ft of LEED-certified space per person, respectively. 

“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 sq ft
  • Nevada: 10.92 sq ft
  • New Mexico: 6.35 sq ft 
  • New Hampshire: 4.49 sq ft 
  • Oregon: 4.07 sq ft
  • South Carolina: 3.19 sq ft
  • Washington: 3.16 sq ft
  • Illinois: 3.09 sq ft
  • Arkansas: 2.9 sq ft
  • Colorado: 2.85 sq ft
  • Minnesota: 2.77 sq ft 

Over 40,000 projects are currently participating in the commercial and institutional LEED rating systems, comprising over 7.9 billion sq ft of construction space in all 50 states and 117 countries.

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.