The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said today that metro Detroit has moved up into the top 10 of metro regions with the most energy-efficient buildings.
Detroit ranked ninth on the EPA's latest annual list of metro areas that have a large number of buildings with Energy Star ratings. Metro Detroit had 151 buildings with the efficiency rating. The city ranked 15th last year.
LA leads the pack at 510; DC, Frisco, Chicago and New York round out the top five. The EPA estimates that commercial buildings spend $100 billion a year on energy use, and they account for 20% of the Unties States greenhouse gas emmissions.
Detroit jumped on the list thanks to an executive order in 2009 that set energy targets for state-owned buildings (another example of good government policy leading the way), as well as DTE expanding energy efficiency programs. K-12 and other commercial buildings got on the bandwagon.
It's the silver-lining from a terrible recession; as schools and manufacturers scramble to save money, cutting spending on energy is a no-brainer - and it's something that will last long after the crisis has passed.