Franklin— The City of Franklin announced today that it has achieved LEED Silver certification, making it the first city in Tennessee to be certified.  LEED, or Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, was created by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) and is the world’s most widely used green building rating program.

Launched in 2016, LEED for Cities enables communities to measure and track 14 key metrics that include energy, water, waste, transportation, education, health, safety, prosperity and equitability. Performance is tracked through Arc, a digital platform that connects actions and tracks progress using a performance score. Through the program, USGBC has gathered data on cities from across the U.S. and the international community. Franklin performs well in comparison, particularly in the Waste, Water, and Human Experience categories (indicators including household income, education attainment, unemployment rate, public safety, and air quality). 

“The City of Franklin remains committed to the principles of sustainability, which requires a balance of economic development, environmental protection, historic preservation, and quality of life issues” said Mayor Ken Moore. “Franklin’s participation and certification in the LEED for Cities program affirms the city’s commitment.”

Mike Leonard, a member of the Franklin Sustainability Commission, says “LEED for Cities offers a flexible, credible, and globally consistent way to communicate continuous performance across an entire community. Over the past nine months, it has been great to engage many stakeholders and community representatives in a conversation about improving Franklin. We are thrilled to take part in this dynamic data-driven platform and look forward to benchmarking our City against others.”

Other notable sustainability initiatives by the city include LED parking garage and street lighting retrofits, 1.2 Megawatts of installed solar at the wastewater plant, a residential curbside recycling program, significant bicycle and pedestrian improvements, and the implementation of a long-term integrated water resources plan.   

Franklin joins the ranks of Washington D.C., Phoenix, AZ., Arlington, VA., Chicago, IL., San Jose, CA, and Lancaster, PA. 

About USGBC

The USGBC is committed to a prosperous and sustainable future through cost-efficient and energy-saving green buildings.  USGBC works toward its mission of market transformation through its LEED green building program, robust educational offerings, an international network of local community leaders, the annual Green Build International Conference and Expo, the Center for Green Schools, and advocacy in support of public policy that encourages and enables green buildings and communities.  For more information, visit usgbc.org and connect on social media.

Photo Credits: (Mayor Ken Moore and City Administrator Eric Stuckey with Sustainability Commission) Pictured L-R back row: Mike Leonard, Andrew Orr, Todd Palmer, Micah Wood, Eric Stuckey, Mayor Ken Moore, Patrick Baggett.  Front Row L-R-Emily Hunter, Dana Kose, Alderman Beverly Burger, Nancy Whittemore.

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