Illinois earned the fifth-place ranking on the U.S. Green Building Council’s most recent list of the top-10 states earning new LEED certifications.
With more than 140 million square feet of LEED-certified space through 2012, Illinois certified 1.94 square feet for every resident last year.
The Green Building Council listed several notable LEED-certified projects that took place last year in Illinois. The list includes the KONE Center in Moline, Ill., the project in the state to achieve Platinum under the LEED: Core & Shell rating system. It also includes the Booker T. Washington Elementary School in Champaign, Ill., which received a certification of LEED for Schools Gold.
The District of Columbia topped the U.S. Green Building Council’s list. Illinois was the only Midwest state to make the top 10.