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Sustainability

Top States for LEED Certified Space per Capita over the Past Decade

By Daniel Overbey
Header - BE 1170x658 - LEED Space per Capita.jpg

Image courtesy of author.

May 2, 2022

USGBC publishes an annual announcement to celebrate the "Top 10 States for LEED." Now in its 12th year, the annual list is based on the gross square footage of LEED-certified space per capita added in each state over the past year, using U.S. Census data.

Top state for 2021? Illinois.

Top state for 2020? Massachusetts. 

Top state for 2019? Colorado.

I have always wondered where my home state of Indiana stood in the mix. I anticipate that many others may similarly wonder about their own states if they have not been recently noted in the Top 10 States for LEED rankings.

Wonder no more! I independently processed the data for all LEED BD+C, ID+C, O+M, and Homes projects over the past ten years (2012-2021). 

May I offer... the (unofficial) Top 10 States for LEED for the past decade.

Figure: LEED certified gross square feet per capita per state from 2012-2021.

Image courtesy of author. Data courtesy of the U.S. Green Building Council.

 

At 3.40 square feet per capita, Nevada is tops over the past decade. 

With 0.54 square feet per capita, Indiana is ranked 29th and holding its own.

The impressive outliner in the data is Washington D.C. Of course, the District of Columbia is not ranked because it is a federal district, not a state. However, at a whopping 27.48 square feet of LEED certified space per capita, our nation's capital has more than the entire top ten states of the past decade combined (22.28).

KEYWORDS: green building LEED reports and studies USGBC (US Green Building Council)

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Overbey   head shot 2020 3

Daniel Overbey, AIA, NCARB, LEED Fellow (LEED AP BD+C, ID+C, O+M), WELL AP is an Assistant Professor of Architecture at Ball State University and the Director of Sustainability for Browning Day in Indianapolis, Ind. His work focuses on high-performance building design and construction, environmental systems research, green building certification services, energy/life-cycle assessment modeling, and resilient design. He can be reached at djoverbey@bsu.edu.

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