Early Earth Day Buzz: DC's Top 10 Green Neighborhoods

• April 20th 2011

by Mark Wellborn

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Earth Day is coming up this Friday, so in honor of this annual day of environment awareness, MRIS has compiled a list of the DC area’s top ten green neighborhoods.

Top ten lists are always a little subjective, and when they relate to neighborhoods, they can result in a fair amount of debate, so we spoke with MRIS Product Manager Tim Campbell to get some insight into how the firm came up with the rankings.

Campbell said that MRIS analyzed data from the multiple listing service (MLS) in regards to the energy-efficiency of homes, surveyed real estate professionals about green real estate in the areas in which they work, and conducted a number of public surveys. Among other things, the surveys looked into how many dog runs and children play areas were in certain neighborhoods, the methods of and proximity to public transportation, as well as the number of and proximity to green space and parks. (So, in fact the green rankings are based on more than just the energy-efficient aspects of properties on the market.)

Bethesda made the list because of the DC suburb’s initiatives to cut greenhouse gas emissions and implement green jobs, and also because it is home to DC’s first passive design house. Petworth, too, made the list because of residential construction, specifically what could be the DC area’s first LEED platinum condo development. Other neighborhoods that were included because of green residential projects included Ballston, Columbia Heights, Capitol Hill, Old Town and Mount Rainier.

Here are the top green neighborhoods in the DC area, in no particular order:

1. Capitol Hill
2. Takoma Park
3. Columbia Heights
4. Ballston
5. Bethesda
6. Crestwood
7. Mount Rainier
8. Old Town Alexandria
9. Petworth
10. Woodley Park

Here is also a quick snapshot, provided by MRIS, of the green elements of active MLS listings, which include everything from Energy Star appliances to vegetated roofs:

• 2,783 listings have green windows
• 2,361 listings are using Energy Star appliances
• 1,100 listings have a programmable thermostat
• 642 listings have high-efficiency toilets
• 95 listings have geo-thermal heat pumps
• 59 listings have solar panels
• 34 listings have vegetated roofs

This article originally published at https://dc.urbanturf.com/articles/blog/early_earth_day_buzz_dcs_top_10_green_neighborhoods/3358.