America's Top 10 Green Housing Developments

The best sustainable, eco-friendly places to live across the nation

January/February 2008
By Laurel Kallenbach and Kim Wallace 
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Our picks for America's best green housing developments emphasize communities working toward sustainability by incorporating green building, energy efficiency and reuse of previously developed land. Several are enrolled in the U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) programs such as LEED for Neighborhoods (LEED-ND) or LEED for Homes. Our 10 favorites are listed alphabetically by city.

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1. Austin, Texas: Mueller

The old municipal airport—just minutes from the University of Texas and downtown—is a 711-acre redevelopment with homes, shops, businesses, restaurants, an elementary school and parks. Austin Energy is certifying all buildings to high efficiency.

• Green options for homes, including tankless water heaters, programmable thermostats, solar panels

• Graywater reused for low-water, native landscaping

• 25 percent of housing for lower-income owners or renters

• Hangars reused as info centers and possible entertainment venue

• Anticipated LEED Platinum status for Dell Children’s Medical Center and Ronald McDonald House
 
2. Chapel Hill, North Carolina: Greenbridge

With 98 residential condominiums, street-level retail, renewable building materials, planted roofs, and solar hot water and electricity, Greenbridge is a downtown revitalization project promoting human and ecological health.

• Rainwater runoff system

• 75 percent of demolition and construction materials from site reused and recycled

• Carbon emissions offset through renewable energy investments

• Affordable workforce housing

• Easy mass-transit access

• On-site Zipcar (car-sharing program) fleet

• Sustainable educational learning center

3. Denver: Stapleton 

A former airport site, Stapleton is the largest urban-infill redevelopment project in the United States, with 4,700 acres of reclaimed land just 10 minutes from downtown. Six million tons of runway concrete were reused to make bike paths and bridges. The development is in the LEED-ND pilot program.

• 1,100 acres of parks and open space

• 20 percent of rental apartments and 10 percent of for-sale housing allotted as affordable housing

• All homes Energy Star certified

• Prairie habitat restoration

• Extensive eco-restoration of Westerly Creek

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