Green Building

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How We Rated Cities

This category is based on data from the United States Green Building Council's Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) rating system. The USGBC has expanded greatly in breadth and depth of building (and area) types rated since unveiling LEED eight years ago.

SustainLane awarded cities credit for LEED Certified buildings, with further points awarded for buildings designated in three ascending LEED tiers: Silver, Gold, and Platinum. Less credit was given for LEED- registered buildings, which are typically in the planning or development phase, before receiving certification. The resulting total was then normalized on a per capita basis, using the adjusted number of LEED buildings per 100,000 people.

"Green building is the practice of increasing the efficiency with which buildings use resources — energy, water, and materials — while reducing building impacts on human health and the environment during the building's lifecycle, through better siting, design, construction, operation, maintenance, and removal."
--Green Office Buildings: A Practical Guide to Development; The Urban Land Institute, 2005, via Wikipedia

2008 Rankings

Advantaged Cities in 2008

The #1 city based on the above approach is Portland. Portland's 149 registered and 43 certified LEED buildings topped last year's king of the hill Atlanta, now #3 with 134 registered and 24 certified LEED buildings as of late 2007. In position #2 is Washington, D.C., with 184 registered and 23 certified LEED buildings. At #4, Seattle had 109 registered and 41 certified buildings, and Denver was #5 with 67 registered and 18 certified LEED buildings.

Just over a year later, Portland now has three times as many registered and certified buildings. Atlanta has three times as many registered and twice as many certified buildings.

Movers and Shakers

The five most improved cities when compared to 2006 are Houston (+18), Charlotte (+17), Jacksonville (+14), Albuquerque (+12) and Miami (+11). Cities trailing the country on a per resident basis (least improved) include: Detroit, Omaha, Tulsa, Long Beach, Philadelphia. Keep in mind that each category is a relative ranking of 50 cities, not the "50 greenest." Cities at the top of our list may be bested by smaller cities not included in our survey, on a per capita basis. Likewise, lower-ranked cities may be doing better than cities not included in our survey.

Resources for Further Reading

Commercial/General Information:

Local/Residential green ratings programs and news:

City of Portland's Green Building Program
Built Green (Seattle Metro)
Build It Green: GreenPoint Rated (California/Residential)
CIWMB: Residential Green Building (California/Residential)
NAHB: Model Green Home Building Guidelines (National)
Smart Communities
TreeHugger: Design/Architecture News

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