The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency this month unveiled its list of Energy Star Leaders for 2009, showing significant growth in the number of organizations that earned the label, as well as major improvements in the amount of cost and emissions reductions from energy efficiency.

The 58 organizations that earned the label in 2009 saved more than $48 million across their portfolios -- quadruple the amount saved in 2008. The savings also reduced emissions by a cumulative 220,000 metric tons, an amount equivalent to that used by 39,000 homes.

Earning the Leader certification requires portfolio managers to reduce their energy use by 10 percent across all buildings in the portfolio. A second level of Top Performer is given for a portfolio that performs in the top 25 percent of similar buildings across the country.

For 2009, more than 75 percent of the organizations earning Energy Star Leader recognition also earned a top performer label, the most to do so in any given year.
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The vast majority of Energy Star Leaders are school districts, but among the commercial real estate firms to make the list in 2009 are Akridge, a Washington, D.C.-based property and construction management firm. In 2009, Akridge managed to cut its energy use by 12 percent over its baseline, and reduced the overall energy intensity of its portfolio by 253 kBTU per square foot.

There are now more than 100 organizations in the Energy Star Leaders list, totaling 5,600 buildings covering nearly 390 million square feet across 32 states and the District of Columbia. The full details and links to case studies are available for download from the EPA website.