Virginia ranks ninth in the country for green building

Virginia is a leader in green building. The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) released its annual list of the Top 10 States for LEED, or Leadership for Energy and Environmental Design, the world’s most widely used green building rating system, and Virginia made the 2018 list, coming in at No. 9

The list ranks states in terms of certified square feet per resident in 2017.

Now in its eighth year, the list is based on 2010 U.S. census data and includes commercial and institutional green building projects that were certified throughout last year.

Massachusetts retained its top position for the second year in a row with 130 LEED certifications representing 4.48 square feet of LEED-certified space per resident, the highest since 2010.

The mid-Atlantic continues to show strong regional leadership, with Maryland and Virginia returning to the list for the seventh year. The Rotunda at the University of Virginia, a 38,500-square-foot, historic multiuse space in Charlottesville, is one of the most recent buildings in the state to achieve a LEED rating of silver.

Also notable, Washington, D.C., which is not included in the official list of top states because of its status as a federal territory, tops the nation with 39.83 square feet of space per resident certified in 2017.

Illinois and Colorado are the only states to have made the list every year since the inception of the ranking in 2010.