Washington, DC, though not technically a state, tops the U.S. Green Building Council's 2010 list of top 10 states for LEED-certified commercial and institutional green buildings per capita.

The District of Columbia leads the nation, with 25 square feet of LEED-certified space per person in 2010 more than double that of runner-up Nevada with 10.92 square feet per person.

“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.

The top LEED states per capita, including the District of Columbia, are:
1. District of Columbia: 25.15 square feet
2. Nevada: 10.92 square feet
3. New Mexico: 6.35 square feet
4. New Hampshire: 4.49 square feet
5. Oregon: 4.07 square feet
6. South Carolina: 3.19 square feet
7. Washington: 3.16 square feet
8. Illinois: 3.09 square feet
9. Arkansas: 2.9 square feet
10. Colorado: 2.85 square feet
* Minnesota: 2.77 square feet

USGBC said more than 40,000 projects are currently participating in the commercial and institutional LEED (Leadership in Environment and Energy Development) rating systems, comprising more than 7.9 billion square feet of construction space in all 50 states and 117 countries. In addition, USGBC said nearly 10,000 homes have been certified under the LEED for Homes rating system, with nearly 45,000 more homes registered.

Of the projects represented on the list, the most-common project type was commercial office and the most-common owner type was for-profit organization. The cities most represented in the list were Chicago and Washington, DC.

Read more about the USGBC's list of top LEED building states.

Posted by Rich Christianson

The U.S. Green Building Council's headquarters is among the LEED-certified buildings in Washington, DC.