The US Green Building Council (USGBC) released its annual ranking of states that have the most LEED-certified buildings and this year, Illinois ranked #1.
For 2013, the top 10 states added 1,777 commercial and institutional projects – 226.8 million square feet of real estate.
"As the economy recovers, green buildings continue to provide for jobs at every professional level and skill set from carpenters to architects. I congratulate everyone in these states whose contributions to resources saved, toxins eliminated, greenhouse gases avoided and human health enhanced help guarantee a prosperous future for our planet and the people who call it home," says Rick Fedrizzi, CEO of USGBC.
USGBC rates states based on LEED-certified buildings per capita – Illinois’ 171 projects represent 2.29 square feet of LEED space per resident.
As was last year, the trend is toward certification for renovations of existing buildings rather than new construction. In 2013, 48% of square footage was certified under LEED for Building Operations & Maintenance. 43% was certified under LEED for Building Design & Construction and 9% under LEED for Interior Design & Construction.
Notable LEED-certified projects for 2013 include:
- Illinois: LEED-Gold for the Illinois Holocaust Museum
- Maryland: LEED-Gold for M&T Bank Stadium
- New York: LEED-Gold for Barclays Center in Brooklyn
- California: LEED-Gold for San Francisco’s SFJAZZ Center
- North Carolina: LEED-Gold for Mother Earth Brewing
- Hawaii: LEED-Silver for Aulani, a Disney Resort
Worldwide, 4642 projects were certified in 2013 with 596 million square feet. Cumulatively, 20,000 buildings are LEED-certified with 2.9 billion square feet – another 37,000 are in the pipeline, which will add another 7.6 billion square feet.
The latest version of LEED really raises the bar, check it out.
Here are last year’s rankings, with Washington DC in the lead.
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