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Philadelphia Among Top 10 Cities With Energy Star Certified Buildings

By Michelle Durham

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - The EPA releases its annual list of the 25 U.S. Cities with the most Energy Star certified buildings. This year, Philadelphia cracked the top 10. The Philadelphia Building Energy and Benchmarking Law was passed in 2012, requiring larger city buildings to report their energy usage.

Policy and Program Manager with the Mayor's Office of Sustainability Alex Dews is thrilled Philly is #9 on this list. His office works directly with management of larger buildings in the city to help reduce their energy and water usage.

"It's schools, churches, hospitals, office buildings, shopping centers -- it's really a wide variety of building types and it's been great for us to work with all those folks."

In essence, any commercial building over 50,000 square feet.

Dews says they have come a long way, "In 2008 there were only 28 buildings in the city that were recognized through Energy Star and now there are more than 210 buildings that are getting that recognition through EPA in the region."

Dews credits building owners and managers for their efforts and says owners of smaller buildings can always look to his office staff for help to improve their energy efficiency.

Phila.gov/benchmarking
215-686-4418
benchmarkinghelp@phila.gov

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