ENERGY STAR Top Cities

Why is energy efficiency in city buildings so important? Because cities consume over two-thirds of the world’s energy and account for more than 70 percent of global carbon emissions—even though they only occupy about two percent of the world’s landmass.[1] And the energy used by commercial buildings is the single largest source of emissions in many cities.
The good news is that cities and buildings across America are already taking steps to reduce emissions through energy efficiency. In fact, since 1999, more than 28,000 commercial buildings have earned EPA’s ENERGY STAR—signifying that they are among the nation’s most energy efficient. They’ve saved more than $3.8 billion on utility bills and prevented greenhouse gas emissions equal to the annual electricity use from more than 2.6 million homes.