Nevada takes the LEED

It’s not often Nevada gets to take the top slot for something positive, so we have to blow our own horn when we get the chance.

There are more LEED-certified buildings in Nevada than in any other U.S. state. That’s according to the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), which established the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design rating system and just released its Top 10 States for LEED Green Buildings list.

Nevada had 10.92 square feet of LEED-certified space per person in 2010, with Centennial Hills Library in Las Vegas highlighted as a “notable” project. Washington D.C., however, had the most LEED square feet per capita. That’s no surprise given the Obama administration’s focus on LEED certification for federal buildings, the vast number of nonprofits—the most common type of owner of LEED buildings—in D.C., and the fact that the USGBC is headquartered there.

The full list of top LEED states per capita, plus Washington D.C., are:

1) District of Columbia (25.15 sq. ft.); 2) Nevada (10.92 sq. ft.); 3) New Mexico (6.35 sq. ft.); 4) New Hampshire (4.49 sq. ft.); 5) Oregon: (4.07 sq. ft.); 6) South Carolina (3.19 sq. ft.); 7) Washington (3.16 sq. ft.); 8) Illinois (3.09 sq. ft.); 9) Colorado (2.85 sq. ft.); 10) Minnesota (2.77 sq. ft.)