Green Residential Leasing

Whether you are early in your search or actively seeking a rental home and want to prioritize green elements in your future home, there are a few options to help. Green building certifications, awards acknowledging green building strategies, installed energy efficiency upgrades and other sustainable features all can help identify green rental homes.

LEED-certified or other green certifications

Multifamily buildings may advertise LEED certifications to potential residents online or during building tours. Ask potential landlords about any green certifications the building has achieved. Energy Star certifications are listed here and can be searched by zip code and multifamily housing. LEED-certified buildings can be searched within this database. Tenant buildings may fall under the following rating systems: LEED BD+C: Multifamily, LEED Residential BD+C: Single Family, or LEED O+M: Multifamily.

DOE's Green Lease Leaders

The Department of Energy developed the Green Lease Leaders program in 2014 to support and reward office and multifamily buildings building mutually beneficial landlord-tenant relationships and creating energy efficient buildings that led to more sustainable living. Recipients can be found and filtered on this search page. Multifamily awardees can be found by filtering by sector.

Learn more about the Green Lease Leaders program here

Current and Planned Green Features

When searching for a rental on online listings, green features, such as rooftop solar, rain gardens, composting, EV charge-ready, etc., may be advertised. Some listings may include a filter for "Green Features" or similar. If the building posts a walkability or bikeability score, compare to other buildings in the neighborhood.