Green building has constructed quite a name for itself, but the demolished economy makes one wonder if builders will start choosing price over planet.

Fortunately, the Environmental Protection Agency has provided a modest pick-me-up, honoring the 25 U.S. cities with the most energy efficient buildings.

I will spare you the suspense and tell you that Los Angeles topped the list with 262 Energy Star buildings as of 2008, totaling 74 million square feet of thrifty floorspace. L.A. edged out its northern neighbor, San Francisco, whose 194 buildings making up 60 million sq ft of conserving cubicles.

An Energy Star building typically uses 35% less energy and puts out 35% fewer GHG's than the usual place of business. EPA says that 3,300 new buildings were blessed with the Energy Star label in '08, saving over $1 billion in utility bills and cutting CO2 emissions by 7 million tons. L.A.'s efforts are estimated to have saved $87.2 million last year and all E* buildings combined prevent the emissions of about 2 million cars per year.

My current home, Washington, D.C. ranked 4th with 136 buildings, while Obama's former town of Chicago found itself in 6th place with 125. Meanwhile, California and Texas tied for the most spots in the top 25 with four each. The list is ctrl+v'd below and the dirty clean details (pdf) are available at the EPA website.

Top 25:
1.   Los Angeles, CA
2.   San Francisco, CA
3.   Houston, TX
4.   Washington, D.C.
5.   Dallas-Fort Worth, TX
6.   Chicago, IL
7.   Denver, CO
8.   Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN
9.   Atlanta, GA
10. Seattle, WA
11. Boston, MA
12. New York, N.Y.
13. Austin, TX
14. Detroit, MI
15. Milwaukee, WI
16. San Antonio, TX
17. Philadelphia, PA
18. Charlotte, N.C.
19. Portland, OR
20. Grand Rapids, MI
21. Sacramento, CA
22. Phoenix, AZ
23. Miami, FL
24. Riverside, CA
25. Madison, WI