In a recent study of environmentally-friendly cities, Dallas-Fort Worth placed No. 17 on a list of the top 30 “green” office markets in the U.S.

According to CBRE’s fourth annual Green Building Adoption Index, 31.7 percent of office spaces in DFW met “green” standards under an EPA Energy Star certification, LEED certification, or both.

This year, DFW adopted Energy Star labels 16.5 percent more than the LEED label, according to the report. On the state level, Texas is one of the top markets for LEED building especially in the residential sector, according to U.S. Green Building Council project manager Nick Brousse. 

“Texas is one of our best markets for LEED building. The residential sector in Texas has the second most LEED-certified single and multi-family residences in the country,” Brousse told Anna Clark for her GreenBiz opinion column in June.

“It is no longer a question of if a property is LEED certified, but rather what level of certification.” 

Green Building Adoption Index report

The CBRE study ranked Chicago, San Francisco, and Atlanta as the top green markets. San Francisco dropped from its first place ranking, following behind Chicago, which qualified 66 percent of its space as “green.”

In 2009, Dallas began implementing its Green Construction Ordinance, hopping on track in hopes to becoming one of the greenest cities in the U.S. Dallas was one of the first big cities in America to enforce environmentally-friendly commercial and residential building standards, D CEO’s Faith Isbell reported.

“It is no longer a question of if a property is LEED certified, but rather what level of certification,” CBRE noted of Dallas buildings.

The report also mentions Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport’s recent U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Climate Leadership Award for Organizational Leadership as well as the DFW area’s push for more Wired Certifications or “buildings with the fastest and most reliable internet connection.”

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