Dive Brief:
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New York City has 2,924 LEED certified commercial buildings and 6,718 LEED residential buildings, and is currently experiencing an increased volume of LEED activity, making it the premier city for LEED projects in the nation.
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Most residential buildings in New York requesting LEED certification are existing structures; pushing the effort along may be that the city is working to reduce its carbon footprint, enacting legislation in 2009 which requires existing structures to measure and report its energy usage and contained a provision to reduce the amount of emissions from large buildings.
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According to the 2012 Benchmarking Report, buildings in New York have a median Energy Star rating of 64 out of 100, according to EPA comparison, which is a better score than the national average; this report illustrates than older building can achieve high energy efficiency, and environmental living is not limited to new construction only.
Dive Insight:
The article states that the "push for green buildings happened at a stunning rate of speed…the ratings systems have only been around for 13 years…."
If more consumers were aware of the benefits of LEED certification, could that interest push the trend at an even faster pace?