Washington, DC – (March 2, 2011) – The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) today released its 2010 list of top 10 states for LEED-certified commercial and institutional green buildings per capita, based on the U.S. 2010 Census information. The District of Columbia leads the nation, with 25 square feet of LEED-certified space per person in 2010, with Nevada being the leading state, with 10.92 square feet per person in 2010.

Other top states include New Mexico, New Hampshire and Oregon with more than 6 and 4 square feet of LEED-certified space per person, respectively.

“Using per capita, versus the more traditional numbers of projects, or pure square footage, is a reminder to all of us that the people who live and work, learn and play in buildings should be what we care about most,” said USGBC SVP of LEED, Scot Horst. “2010 was a difficult year for most of the building industry, but in many areas, the hunger for sustainable development kept the markets moving.”

The top LEED states per capita, including the District of Columbia:

District of Columbia: 25.15 sf
Nevada: 10.92 sf
New Mexico: 6.35 sf
New Hampshire: 4.49 sf
Oregon: 4.07 sf
South Carolina: 3.19 sf
Washington: 3.16 sf
Illinois: 3.09 sf
Arkansas: 2.9 sf
Colorado: 2.85 sf
Minnesota: 2.77 sf

USGBC’s LEED green building certification system is the foremost program for the design, construction, operation and maintenance of green buildings. Over 40,000 projects are currently participating in the commercial and institutional LEED rating systems, comprising over 7.9 billion square feet of construction space in all 50 states and 117 countries. In addition, nearly 10,000 homes have been certified under the LEED for Homes rating system, with nearly 45,000 more homes registered.

Notable newly certified projects in 2010 include the Susitna Valley Jr./Sr. High School in Talkeetna, Ark.; the Wells Fargo Center in Denver, Colo.; the two International Monetary Fund (IMF) headquarters buildings in downtown Washington, D.C, which earned LEED certification for the operations and maintenance of an existing building; Parc Huron multi-use residential property in Chicago, Ill.; the Edina Crosstown Medical Building in Edina, Minn.; Barcelona Elementary School in Albuquerque, N.M.; Centennial Hills Library in Las Vegas, Nev.; The Allison Inn & Spa in Newberg, Ore.; KPMG: Greenville in S.C.; and multiple fire stations and the Bank of America Fifth Avenue Plaza in Seattle, Wash.

Of the projects represented on the list, the most-common project type was commercial office and the most-common owner type was for-profit organization. The cities most represented in the list were Chicago and Washington, D.C.

Top 10 states for LEED green buildings