The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) released its rankings for the top 10 states for commercial and industrial space certified in 2014 under LEED guidelines, putting Illinois at the head of the class for the second year in a row.
Rankings are made on a per-capita basis, comparing the square footage of LEED-certified projects to population. Illinois, with 174 certified projects, accounted for a total of 42.5 million sq. ft. of space, or a per-capita total of 3.31. California had much more certified space, 69.8 million sq. ft. in all, but a per capital ranking of only 1.87.
Neither single-family nor multi-family residential projects are included in the tally. In a separate report last year, the USGBC said it had certified 12,995 single-family and 40,599 multifamily units; California was the top state, with 9186 units.
In the most recent report for commercial and industrial building, the rest of the top 10 list included (in descending order) Colorado, Maryland, Virginia, Massachusetts, Hawaii, California, Georgia, Minnesota, and Arizona and New York were tied for 10th with per capita square footage of 1.74
Georgia and Arizona were new to the list.
The District of Columbia was miles ahead of the rest of the pack with a per-capita rating of 29.44, but it’s not part of the state rankings because it’s a federal district without statehood status.
In total, 1662 projects became certified last year in the top 10 states, representing a total of 251.7 million sq. ft. (5779 acres). Worldwide, the total was 675.7 million square feet.
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For the second year in a row, Illinois had the highest per-capita rate of LEED certified industrial and commercial building.
