In 2000 the City of Seattle became the first city in the country to require that all city buildings over 5,000 square feet achieve LEED silver rating. The City’s goal in doing that was to spur development of LEED buildings by demonstrating their value and increasing the familiarity of the local design professions and contractors

Seattle Steam Company was founded in 1893. It has 18 miles of steam pipes running under the streets of downtown Seattle, which it uses to distribute steam to approximately 200 downtown buildings, and the First Hill neighborhoods. That steam heats the buildings, sterilizes hospital instruments, and creates the hot water to wash mountains of hotel