Green Cities

According to a report that was released last month by the Burnham-Moores Center for Real Estate at the University of San Diego, Los Angeles is first among U.S. cities when it comes to LEED - or Energy Star-certified commercial office space. The CoStar Group provided the data upon which the report was based and ranked cities by the total amount of their square footage that has earned either the LEED or Energy Star designation; no breakdown appears to be readily available that segregates the figures according to individual rating system. Los Angeles topped the list with 100 buildings and 26.2 million square feet while Houston checked in at #2 with 46 buildings and 21.1 million square feet. Also in the top five were Washington, D.C. with 61 buildings and 19.8 million square feet, New York City with 11 buildings and 12.3 million square feet, and San Francisco with 30 buildings and 11.9 million square feet.

On Friday, Coca-Cola announced that it would work in cooperation with Georgia Tech's Enterprise Innovation Institute to cut energy consumption at its two million square foot corporate headquarters in Atlanta (image to the left) by twenty-three percent and water consumption by fifteen percent. Measures the company will take as part of the $3 million effort include the installation of energy-efficient lighting and air-conditioning equipment, rainwater harvesting, and irrigation control systems. Coke expects that the entire overhaul will be complete within the next eighteen months and help eliminate 10,000 metric tons of CO2 emissions annually, as well as save over $1 million in annual operating costs.

Nashville City Councilman Mike Jameson is preparing legislation he intends to introduce which would apply to all public projects in the Nashville Metropolitan District (the city of Nashville and Davidson County, informally referred to as "Metro") of 5,000 square feet or at least $2 million (except for Metro's schools, transit structures, and housing developments, which are all exempt under the city's charter allowing those departments to implement their own building codes). The legislation would require that qualifying projects meet an undisclosed level of LEED certification.

Another day and another U.S. city is on the cusp of implementing green building legislation. All projects, public or private, of 50,000 square feet or more in Boston will be required to meet a city-developed green building standard. The new regulations will take effect in January after the public has an opportunity to comment and the Boston Zoning Commission adopts them into the municipal zoning code.