Metro's Gateway Headquarters. Photo by Metro Transportation Library and Archive, via Flickr.

The award goes to buildings that on average use 35 percent less energy than the average building, meaning about 35 percent less carbon dioxide — a greenhouse gas — is released into the atmosphere. Here’s the press release from Metro:

Metro’s Gateway Headquarters in downtown Los Angeles has earned the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) prestigious Energy Star rating. Energy Star is the national symbol for protecting the environment through superior energy efficiency and signifies that a building is in the top 25 percent of similar facilities nationwide for energy efficiency.

“While Metro’s clean-burning fleet of trains and buses certainly is all about energy conservation, our overall goal is to apply that mindset to the entire agency, whether it is by carrying commuters who otherwise would drive or through new construction projects. We want Metro to be sustainable from bottom to top,” said Metro CEO Art Leahy.

Commercial buildings that earn the Energy Star use an average of 35 percent less energy than typical buildings and also release 35 percent less carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.

Metro earned the designation as part of a larger effort to attain a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification for Gateway Headquarters under the U.S. Green Building Council’s Existing Building Operations and Maintenance (EBOM) category.

Through the LEED-EBOM effort, Metro completed energy efficiency assessments, installed sub-meters, performed retro-commissioning activities and identified other energy saving measures. These activities were done in addition to previously completed energy saving efforts, which included installation of occupancy sensors, use of timers on the building’s lighting systems and optimization of energy systems.

Energy Star was introduced by EPA in 1992 as a voluntary effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions through efficiency. The Energy Star label can be found on more than 60 different kinds of products, new homes and commercial and industrial buildings. Last year alone, Americans, under the auspices of the Energy Star program, saved nearly $17 billion on their energy bills while reducing greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to those of 31 million vehicles.

For more information about the EPA Energy Star program, go to energystar.gov.