The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) 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
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