After coming in second to Los Angeles for five consecutive years, Washington DC, has taken the top spot on the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) seventh-annual list of the top 25 US metropolitan areas with the most Energy Star certified buildings in 2014. Los Angeles took the number two ranking, followed by Atlanta, New York and San Francisco.
Houston bumped Denver out of the number eight ranking, and Boston made its way into the top 10 after last year’s number 13 ranking.
More than 25,000 buildings across America have earned EPA’s Energy Star certification since 1999, saving a combined total of nearly $3.4 billion on utility bills.
Energy Star certified buildings are verified to perform better than 75 percent of similar buildings nationwide, and they use an average of 35 percent less energy and are responsible for 35 percent fewer emissions than typical buildings.
The top 25 cities ranking, based on number of Energy Star qualified buildings in 2014, include the following:
To create the annual top cities list, EPA tallies the number of Energy Star certified buildings for that particular year within each metropolitan area, as defined by the US Census. These areas include the city itself as well as surrounding towns and suburbs.