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Metro Area Saves On Electricity

March 23, 2010
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By Sabri Ben-Achour

The D.C. Metro area is receiving high marks for the energy efficiency of it's buildings.

D.C. and its suburbs rank second in the nation for the number of Energy-Star qualified buildings, it has 204 of them. The Environmental Protection Agency created the Energy-Star rating system. It's often seen on appliances, but it's used for buildings as well. It specifically focuses on energy savings. Maura Beard is with the Energy Star program.

"So if you take a look inside an Energy Star building, it's everything from the lighting to how the building is run, making sure it's not heating and cooling when the building's unoccupied, but it's also the actions of the tenants," says Beard.

So, for example, whether or not people in the building unplug their cellphone chargers or leave their computers running. The energy efficiency ranking is meant to give a picture of cost savings, the EPA estimates the D.C. metro area saved more than $60 million in heating and electricity bills in 2009. Only Los Angeles scored higher.

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