The U.S. Green Building Council released its Top 10 lists of green building legislation in the House and Senate today and honored Rep. Ben Chandler and Sen. Olympia Snowe for supporting energy efficiency and sustainable design in the buildings.

The USGBC's announcement comes just a year after the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act was signed into law.

The Recovery Act, which heads the USGBC's Top 10 list for the House, provides for $787 billion in stimulus funds of which $22 billion has been set aside for energy efficiency projects, including $346 million for energy efficient building technologies.

{related_content}The organization is lauding Chandler, a Kentucky Democrat, for his work on H.R.3021, 21st Century High-Performing Public School Facilities Act and Maine Republican Snowe for her efforts involving S.1637, the Expanding Building Efficiency Incentives Act of 2009.

In the U.S., 39 percent of CO2 emissions come from buildings, which also account for 40 percent of energy consumption, 13 percent of water use and 15 percent of the GDP annually.

According to the USGBC, increased building efficiency can meet 85 percent of the country's future energy demands, and a nationwide commitment to green building could generate as many as 2.5 million jobs.

Here are the USGBC lists of the legislation that can do the most to advance that proposition:

House Legislation

• The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, Public Law
• The American Clean Energy and Security Act, Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) and Ed Markey (D-Mass.)
• The 21st Century Green High-Performing Public School Facilities Act, Chandler (D-Ky.)
• The Expanding Building Efficiency Act, Dave Reichert (R-Wash.)
• The Property Assessed Clean Energy Tax Benefits Act, John Sarbanes (D-Md.)
• Act to Enhance Private Financing for Clean Energy Technology Deployment, Steve Israel (D-N.Y.)
• The Energy Efficiency Modernization Act of 2009, Mary Jo Kilroy (D-Ohio)
• The Water Accountability Tax Efficiency Reinvestment (WATER) Act, Michael Coffman (R-Colo.)
• The Livable Communities Act of 2010, Ed Perlmutter (D-Colo.), pending introduction
• The Federal Personnel Training Act of 2010, Russ Carnahan (D-Mo.), pending introduction

Senate Legislation

• The Clean Energy and American Jobs Act, John Kerry (D-Mass.) and Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.)
• The American Clean Energy and Leadership Act, Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.) and Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska)
• Energy Efficiency in Housing Act (EEHA) of 2009, Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.)
• The Livable Communities Act of 2009, Christopher Dodd (D-Conn.)
• The Expanding Building Efficiency Incentives Act of 2009, Snowe (R-Maine)
• The School Building Fairness Act, Tom Harkin (D-Iowa)
• Clean Energy for Homes and Buildings Act of 2009, Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) and Richard Lugar (R-Ind.)
• The Energy Efficiency Modernization Act of 2009, Michael Bennet (D-Colo.)
• The Water Accountability Tax Efficiency Reinvestment (WATER) Act of 2009, Mark Udall (D-Colo.)
• The Federal Agency Energy Efficiency Improvement Act of 2009, Susan Collins (R-Maine)

Image courtesy of the Architect of the Capitol.