When thinking of energy efficient cities in the United States, many people think of San Francisco, Portland, or Seattle. However, when looking at the five cities that contain the most energy efficient buildings, only San Francisco makes the cut. Portland falls to 12 and Seattle sits at 14.
To be considered energy efficient, the EPA deems the building an “Energy Star Leader” that reduces energy use by 10 percent and performs in the top 25 percent of similar buildings worldwide.
According to the Huffington Posts’ Green section, these cities top the charts.
- Los Angeles: Contains 293 Energy Star buildings and saves $93.9 million a year. This is the most shocking on the list because when most people think of LA, they think smog. Imagine what the smog would be like without energy efficient buildings at all.
- Washington D.C.: Contains 204 Energy Star buildings and saves $62.3 million a year. Could their small footprint be in relation to this being the city of politics? If politicians talk the talk of energy efficiency, they had better walk the walk.
- San Francisco: Contains 173 Energy Star buildings and saves $69.4 million a year. This shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone, as San Fran is often seen as LA’s green neighbor.
- Denver: 136 Energy Star buildings and saves $29.6 million a year. Denver’s numbers are a dramatic drop from San Francisco’s. Could it be weather related in that it is harder to efficiently heat buildings in Colorado than in California?
- Chicago: Contains 134 Energy Star buildings and saves $50.2 million a year. For the amount of buildings Chicago has, they save a disproportionally large amount of money. Give me the number of their electricians and engineers!
Although this post is not directly about Frostburg, it does lead into my next post which will talk about Frostburg's energy efficient buildings.
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