IF YOUR HAPPY AND YOU KNOW IT..

WASHINGTON - If you live in the Washington area, it may sound hard to believe with how much everybody gripes about traffic and how many hours everybody works, but you're probably happier than folks who live in other large cities.

The latest Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index finds D.C. area residents are the happiest of the nation's 52 largest cities.The survey measures your well being on these factors: life evaluation, emotional health, work environments, physical health, healthy behaviors and basic access.

The poll finds 85 percent of people in the region don't smoke and 72 percent go to the dentist annually, leading to healthier lives.

Meanwhile, residents tell The Examiner that free museums, parks and monuments create an area rich in culture and pleasant scenery.

Here are the happiest largest metropolitan areas:

1. D.C.
2. Austin, Texas
3. San Jose, Calif.
4. Seattle
5. San Francisco

Gallup came to its conclusions through telephone interviews, talking with 352,840 adults between Jan. 2, 2010 and Dec. 29, 2010.

"The Tower Building, Rockville, MD (LEED-EB Silver) has GSA and the US Department of Health and Human Services as a tenant. In the commercial real estate market, saavy office building owners, such as The Tower Companies, have implemented LEED EB-O&M conversions. These respond to green lease demands created by the Executive Orders and will help Federal tenants meet sustainability targets. Photo Courtesy The Tower Companies"

ACCORDING TO THE WASHINGTON POST:


"The first local green condos cropped up in D.C. about five years ago. Now, a host of developers in Maryland, the District and Virginia are designing and selling green condos. Because green building results in energy cost-savings, healthier surroundings and more durable construction, they're the future of condo construction, say real-estate investment experts and local government officials."

"Home builders are starting to follow a standard green grading system called LEED, Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design. LEED certification has become something of a Good Housekeeping Seal for green buildings. The grading system is administered by the U.S. Green Building Council, a national coalition of corporations, builders, universities, government agencies and nonprofit organizations that is working to promote environmentally responsible, profitable and healthy buildings. Founded in 1993, USGBC recently launched a pilot program for low-rise multifamily homes."


FOR MORE CLICK HERE