D.C. office buildings—-Green and yet not actually green.

Today, Forbes published its list of “America’s Greenest Skylines.” While I immediately thought of the Wizard of Oz—-and decided this was Forbes’ most original compilation yet—-I quickly came down to reality. Of course, the list refers to energy efficiency. A while back, I blogged about a study evaluating which cities have the most EPA Energy Star-qualified buildings. Forbes basically just copied those results. In both cases, naturally, Washington D.C. ranked number four behind Houston and before Dallas-Fort Worth.

But don’t worry bleeding heart environmentalists/stingy utility bill payers—-There is some exciting news to share in the world of office building greening.

Bisnow reported yesterday that the Lafayette Tower, 801 17th Street NW, located around the corner from Lafayette Park downtown, is now Washington’s first LEED Platinum commercial office building (core and shell). “It got notice of the certification late last week. GreenShape LLC provided consultation and assisted in submissions to the USGBC.  Clark Construction was the GC. Kevin Roche John Dinkeloo and Associates designed the office, Wiles Mensch Corporation the green roof, and TOLK, Inc. the highly efficient mechanical systems,” according to Bisnow.

Image by Ohad*’s photostream, Flickr Creative Commons