AustinThis liberal-minded city likes to think of itself as unique in Texas, a blueberry in the tomato soup of red-state politics. The state capital, it is home to the University of Texas, and, on the outskirts, to the Center for Maximum Potential Building Systems, an obscure and quirkily-named nonprofit responsible for putting Austin on the map as a maverick of the green movement.

Max's Pot, as the center is nicknamed, was instrumental in Austin’s experimental program to curb the energy appetite of its buildings.

Pliny Fisk III, the center's founder, devised a rating system to measure how materials used in construction affect energy use. His brainstorm became the basis of Austin’s green building program, the nation’s first—and Austin went on