Miami takes 18th spot on EPA’s Top Cities list for Energy Star Program

Miami came in eighteenth on the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Top Cities list, with 104 Energy Star certified commercial buildings in its metropolitan area, totaling more than 22 million square feet and annual energy savings of over $21 million.

The Top Cities list, headed this year by Washington, D.C., Los Angeles and San Francisco, honors the 25 metropolitan areas with the most Energy Star certified buildings. To qualify for Energy Star status, buildings must undergo independent verification and be found to be more efficient than 75 percent of similar buildings. Miami’s 104 Energy Star buildings reduce the city’s greenhouse gas emissions by the equivalent of the annual use of 18,200 homes.

"Every year, more cities and buildings are turning to energy efficiency to protect the environment and strengthen their local economies,” EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy said. “Money saved on energy bills can boost the bottom line and be reinvested. The cities on this list prove energy efficiency saves money, improves our communities today, and helps us build toward a healthy future full of opportunity.”

Across the country, the EPA has certified 27,000 buildings since the program’s beginning in 1999, which have reduced emissions equal to that of 2.6 million homes.