EPA's top 10 energy star cities

[musicman]

Although vehicle emissions get most of the ink, the energy used inside our homes and businesses end up producing the lion's share of emissions each year in the US: 48%. That's why, each year, the EPA takes an inventory on which cities are making the largest effort to lower their skyline's carbon footprint. They measure that by the number of Energy Star labeled buildings in a given city.

In order to get that coveted rating, a building must consume 35% less electricity and emit 35% less greenhouse emissions than a conventional structure its size. 2008 saw a massive 130% jump in the number of Energy Star qualified buildings around the nation. Here's a list of the cities that really put their money where their mouth is.

1 Los Angeles

2 SF

3 Houston

4 DC

5 Dallas

6 Chicago

7 Denver

8 minn

9 atl

10 seattle

full article

[Houston Red Winger]

Although vehicle emissions get most of the ink, the energy used inside our homes and businesses end up producing the lion's share of emissions each year in the US: 48%. That's why, each year, the EPA takes an inventory on which cities are making the largest effort to lower their skyline's carbon footprint. They measure that by the number of Energy Star labeled buildings in a given city.

In order to get that coveted rating, a building must consume 35% less electricity and emit 35% less greenhouse emissions than a conventional structure its size. 2008 saw a massive 130% jump in the number of Energy Star qualified buildings around the nation. Here's a list of the cities that really put their money where their mouth is.

1 Los Angeles

2 SF

3 Houston

4 ...

When we moved from Michigan to the Houston area a few summers ago, we were told to buy a house less than 10 years old, becasue the older homes are not energy efficient, and electricity bills of $1000 in the summer were possible. We ended up buying a brand new house (it was still being built), and our utility bills have been surprisingly low. Our house is an Energy Star house, and we feel we made the right decision.

Perhaps Houston is near the top of the list due to the many new homes built here over the past 10 years?

[TheNiche]

Perhaps Houston is near the top of the list due to the many new homes built here over the past 10 years?

That's most likely. All of the cities on the list can either by typified as having strict energy codes or as having been boomtowns with so much construction that they were bound to rank high for Energy Star development, if only because they rank high for development generally.