Washington, D.C. is first LEED Platinum city in the world

Washington, D.C. was named the first LEED for Cities Platinum city in the world by the U.S. Green Building Council last month.

Today, 65% of D.C. neighborhoods are walkable, 58% of commuter trips are by bike, walking, or public transit, and the D.C. government is 100% powered by renewable energy. D.C. is also on track to derive at least one-half of its electricity from renewable resources by 2032.

Launched last year, LEED for Cities enables cities to measure and communicate performance, focusing on outcomes from ongoing sustainability efforts across an array of metrics, including energy, water, waste, transportation, and human experience (which includes education, prosperity, equity, and health and safety). LEED for Cities projects benchmark and track performance using Arc, a digital platform that uses data to provide greater transparency into sustainability efforts and helps cities make more informed decisions, according to a USGBC news release.

D.C. has entered into one of the largest municipal onsite solar projects in the U.S., and completed the largest wind power purchase agreement deal by an American city. The city has also launched Sustainable DC 2.0, a comprehensive city policy statement, and signed a pledge to uphold the commitments in the Paris Climate Accord.

New York City has two very large buildings dedicated to answering the 911 calls of its five boroughs. With more than 11 million emergency calls annually, it makes perfect sense. The second of these buildings, the Public Safety Answering Center II (PSAC II) is located on a nine-acre parcel of land in the Bronx. It’s an imposing 450,000 square-foot structure—a 240-foot-wide by 240-foot-tall cube. The gleaming aluminum cube risesthe equivalent of 24 stories from behind a grassy berm, projecting the unlikely impression that it might actually be floating. Like most visually striking structures, the building has drawn as much scorn as it has admiration.