The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has released its annual list of the top 25 cities with the most ENERGY STAR-certified buildings. This year, Washington, D.C. has topped the list with 480 certified buildings. Washington, D.C. is no stranger to the list, and has come in second place for the last five years behind Los Angeles.
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Home to a diverse building portfolio, Washington, D.C. is quickly becoming a leader in the world of energy-efficient and green building. It was the first jurisdiction in the country to require large private buildings to measure its energy and water usage, and to require that data to be publicly available for benchmarking purposes using the ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager tool. As a result of this law, Washington, D.C. has seen a large uptick in the number of ENERGY STAR-certified buildings.
Commercial buildings are responsible for around 17 percent of greenhouse-gas emissions in the nation. ENERGY STAR buildings perform 75 percent better than similar buildings, and are responsible for 35 percent fewer emissions. Increasing the number of ENERGY STAR buildings will inevitably improve the quality of the built environment and reduce the amount of climate change-causing carbon emissions. According to the EPA: “More than 25,000 buildings across America have earned EPA’s ENERGY STAR certification since 1999. The buildings have saved nearly $3.4 billion on utility bills and prevented greenhouse gas emissions equal to the emissions from the annual electricity use of nearly 2.4 million homes.”
Many commercial buildings rely on the high R-value of polyisocyanurate foam insulation to achieve the energy efficiency necessary to be certified as an ENERGY STAR building. PIMA and its member manufacturers are proud to work with the EPA and the ENERGY STAR program to help achieve the goals of improving the quality of our built environment and reducing carbon emissions.