The Environmental Protection Agency recently named five cities that are the first to participate in the Greening America's Capitals program and receive free assistance from the government. This program will stress turning the capitals into models of sustainable design, and institute measures to modernize their facilities.

The state capitals chosen are Boston, Jefferson City, Mo., Hartford, Conn., Charleston, W. Va., and Little Rock, Ark. The program itself launched this summer and is listed under the Partnership for Sustainable Communities initiative. The EPA is working in partnership with the Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Department of Transportation.

The EPA released their top 50 list of green power partners the other day, and many of the entries are nothing new. Intel, Whole Foods Market, and the U.S. Air Force are all within the top 10. Something to note however is one of the entries, the Chicago Public Schools system.

Ranked number 35 on the list for its purchase of solar power, it buys the most green power of any K-12 institution. The only other educational institutions in the list are the University of Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania State University, and Carnegie Mellon University. Both the State of Pennsylvania and the windy city and its suburbs are doing a great job in weaning themselves off of fossil fuels. I hope that by next year the list has a few additional entries within the education field, and other institutions take a hint as to what direction they should be heading.

I just read about an initiative going on right now called 'Greening America's Capitals.' It's a project of the Partnership for Sustainable Communities, which is composed of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), and the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT). This program helps state capitals implement their visions of environmentally friendly neighborhoods complete with green building and design strategies. This is definitely something we fully support here!

According to the news the first projects will begin this fall, and the program itself will help between three and four communities a year. Each capital city will have a different way of implementing these green features and whether that includes efficient recycling programs, renewables, more public green spaces,  or alternative transportation. The EPA will fund a team of designers to visit several state capital cities and produce designs to kickstart the planning process and environmental considerations. I want to note again that these are neighborhoods, and it is believed that once these pilot projects get underway they can influence citywide changes and even larger movements if done right. 

Browsing the web this morning brought two important news items to my attention. The first covers a recent news release by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) concerning their Energy Star Leaders program. Last year the 'Leaders' prevented over 220,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions and saved over $48 million across their commercial building portfolios. According to the EPA these savings have quadrupled since 2008 and make this past year the most successful since the program's launch in 2004. This is wonderful news! 

According to the EPA, these emissions are equivalent to those from the electricity use of almost 39,000 homes annually. With success like that it will be exciting to see the numbers from 2010. It should be noted for those that don't know, that the EPA labels any organization an Energy Star Leader that cuts its energy use by 10 percent across its entire building portfolio. Those aspiring to become a "top performer" must perform on average in the top 25 percent of similar buildings nationwide.

According to the US Environmental Protection Agency

In the United States, buildings account for: