Ok, no surprise to see Washington, D.C. or San Francisco ranked high in a list of the cities with America's greenest buildings. But Atlanta? Georgia's capital was the only southern state to make the top ten in the 2014 U.S. Clean Tech Leadership Index, released July 15 by Clean Edge. The cleantech research firm tracks the cleantech progress of the 50 largest metro areas and the 50 states.
Ok, no surprise to see Washington, D.C. or San Francisco ranked high in a list of the cities with America's greenest buildings. But Atlanta?
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Georgia's capital was the only southern state to make the top ten in the 2014 U.S. Clean Tech Leadership Index, released July 15 by Clean Edge. The cleantech research firm tracks the cleantech progress of the 50 largest metro areas and the 50 states.
"A good deal of Atlanta's performance can be chalked up to the city's green-building requirements, having passed an ordinance that all new city construction and major renovations must be Silver-LEED certified," said Ron Pernick, Clean Edge managing director.
Atlanta knocked out Milwaukee to take over the number ten spot in the green building ranking.
The South has been notoriously slow to pursue green technology. But Atlanta is different. This is not the first time the city made Clean Edge's top 10 list. It was number #8 in 2012, but then dropped to #12 in 2013, according to Pernick.
With the exception of Atlanta's entry, the green building list showed little change over 2013. Clean Edge attributed the lack of change to the long lead times for new construction.
This year's top spot went to Washington, D.C., driven by efficiency efforts in federal buildings. Boston and Minneapolis also made the top ten. Otherwise the usual suspects, Western cities, dominated the top slots: San Francisco, Denver, Portland, Seattle, San Diego, Sacramento. The five cities at the bottom of the green building list were: New Orleans, St. Louis, Memphis, Birmingham and Oklahoma City.
Other significant findings from this year's report are:
â–ª Colorado, Vermont, Oregon, and Washington each now exceed 100 LEED projects per million people for the first time
▪ Eleven states now generate more than 10 percent of their electricity from non-hydro renewable energy sources, with two – Iowa and South Dakota – exceeding 25 percent.
â–ª U.S. solar installations climbed more than 40 percent year-over-year
â–ª Registrations of all-electric vehicles more than doubled from last year to nearly 220,000 nationwide
â–ª At least eight states now have more than 50 percent smart-meter market penetration; California leads with 70 percent.
Issued July 15, the 2014 U.S. Clean Tech Leadership Index is available here.
Read more at ENN affiliate, Clean Techies.
City image via Shutterstock.
