Picardo Arms Apartments
Multifamily (5+ Units) in Berkeley, CA · 2491 ELLSWORTH ST
At a glance
Picardo Arms Apartments is a 32,240-square-foot multifamily (5+ units) building at 2491 ELLSWORTH ST in Berkeley, California. In its 2025 Berkeley benchmarking disclosure it reported an ENERGY STAR score of 95 out of 100 (grade A) and a site energy-use intensity of 57.5 kBtu/ft². That score is higher than 27% of the 156 scored multifamily (5+ units) buildings in Berkeley.
BESO (BMC Chapter 19.81) · reporting year 2025
Benchmarking record
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| ENERGY STAR score | 95 (band A) |
| Site EUI | 57.5 kBtu/ft² |
| Source EUI | 72.9 kBtu/ft² |
| GHG emissions | — |
| GHG intensity | — |
| Electricity | 67,631 kWh |
| Natural gas | 16,224 therms |
| Gross floor area | 32,240 sq ft |
| Source record | berkeley:2290:2025 |
The disclosure history
Year over year
| Year | Score | Δ | Site EUI | GHG emissions |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025latest | 95 | ±0 | 57.5 kBtu/ft² | — |
| 2024 | 95 | +21 | 59.1 kBtu/ft² | — |
| 2023 | 74 | -6 | 61.0 kBtu/ft² | — |
| 2022 | 80 | 57.6 kBtu/ft² | — |
Compliance context
BESO (BMC Chapter 19.81)
Berkeley's BESO requires annual benchmarking for commercial and multifamily buildings of 15,000 sq ft or more, with energy assessments at time of listing and every five years for buildings of 25,000 sq ft or more.
Ownership
No owning organisation shown. Names of private individuals in the disclosure are not published here.
Own or manage this building? Claim it to correct the record and get compliance alerts.
Location
- Address
- 2491 ELLSWORTH ST
- City
- Berkeley
- State
- California
Within ~1 km
Nearby benchmarked buildings
This source publishes no coordinates, so nearby buildings can't be resolved yet.
See also: most efficient in Berkeley · biggest emitters
How does Picardo Arms Apartments compare with other multifamily (5+ units) buildings in Berkeley?
The latest disclosures cover 202 multifamily (5+ units) buildings in Berkeley, out of 440 buildings citywide. Picardo Arms Apartments's ENERGY STAR score of 95 compares with an average of 92 across the 156 that report a score; it scores higher than 27% of them and lower than 69%. Its site EUI of 57.5 kBtu/ft² is about 75% above the average of 32.9 kBtu/ft² — it uses more energy per square foot than the typical building in that group.
At 32,240 sq ft, it is roughly in line with the average floor area of 33,316 sq ft for those buildings.
How has Picardo Arms Apartments's energy performance changed over time?
BuildingCensus holds 4 Berkeley disclosures for Picardo Arms Apartments, covering report years 2022–2025. Its ENERGY STAR score went from 80 in 2022 to 95 in 2025 (+15 points); its best year on file was 2024, at 95. Site EUI moved from 57.6 kBtu/ft² (2022) to 57.5 kBtu/ft² (2025), a 0% decrease.
What does an ENERGY STAR score of 95 mean?
ENERGY STAR scores run from 1 to 100 and are computed by the EPA's Portfolio Manager as a percentile against similar buildings nationwide, adjusted for climate, size and use: a score of 95 means the building performs better than about 95% of its national peers. BuildingCensus bands the score into report-card grades; 95 falls in band A — high performer (85–100). Scores of 75 or higher meet the threshold for ENERGY STAR certification; certification itself is a separate, verified application that the disclosure does not record. In Berkeley, 82% of scored buildings are at 75 or above.
Site energy-use intensity (EUI) is the energy a building uses on site in a year divided by its floor area, in thousand Btu per square foot — lower is more efficient. Picardo Arms Apartments's 57.5 kBtu/ft² across 32,240 sq ft works out to about 1.9 billion Btu (543 MWh-equivalent) in 2025. Its source EUI of 72.9 kBtu/ft² also counts the energy lost generating and delivering that power, which is why it is higher. The disclosure also reports 67,631 kWh of electricity and 16,224 therms of natural gas for the year.
Which law requires Picardo Arms Apartments to report its energy use?
Picardo Arms Apartments reports under BESO (BMC Chapter 19.81), the legal basis of Berkeley's Building Emissions Saving Ordinance, which publishes each covered building's annual benchmarking results. The record shown here is the report-year 2025 disclosure (source record berkeley:2290:2025). Berkeley's BESO requires annual benchmarking for commercial and multifamily buildings of 15,000 sq ft or more, with energy assessments at time of listing and every five years for buildings of 25,000 sq ft or more.
More multifamily (5+ units) buildings in Berkeley
- 2355 Telegraph Ave· 32,121 sq ft · EUI 60.8 kBtu/ft²
- 2431 Ellsworth Street· 31,866 sq ft · score 100 (A)
- 2037 Parker St/Parker Apartments· 31,586 sq ft · score 26 (D)
- Harper Crossing· 31,164 sq ft · score 100 (A)
- UA Homes· 30,888 sq ft · EUI 74.0 kBtu/ft²
- The Durant· 30,500 sq ft · score 95 (A)
- Multifamily (5+ Units) buildings in Berkeley· 202 benchmarked
- All Berkeley benchmarked buildings· BESO (BMC Chapter 19.81)
- Most efficient large buildings in Berkeley
- Least efficient large buildings in Berkeley
- Biggest emitters in Berkeley
Frequently asked questions
What is Picardo Arms Apartments's energy grade?
Picardo Arms Apartments scores 95 out of 100 on ENERGY STAR — band A, high performer (85–100) — in its 2025 Berkeley disclosure. Scores are national percentiles against similar buildings; 75+ qualifies for ENERGY STAR certification.
How much energy does Picardo Arms Apartments use?
Its 2025 site energy-use intensity was 57.5 kBtu/ft² (72.9 kBtu/ft² source) across 32,240 sq ft, including 67,631 kWh of electricity and 16,224 therms of natural gas.
What are Picardo Arms Apartments's carbon emissions?
No greenhouse-gas emissions figure was reported for 2025.
Where is Picardo Arms Apartments?
Picardo Arms Apartments is at 2491 ELLSWORTH ST, in Berkeley, California.
How big is Picardo Arms Apartments and when was it built?
Picardo Arms Apartments has 32,240 sq ft of gross floor area, as reported in its 2025 disclosure. It is classed as multifamily (5+ units).
Is Picardo Arms Apartments covered by BESO (BMC Chapter 19.81)?
Yes — it appears in the 2025 Building Emissions Saving Ordinance disclosure, which lists the buildings reporting under BESO (BMC Chapter 19.81).
Working with Berkeley building benchmarking records? Pro adds alerts, change history and CSV export ($49/mo); Enterprise adds full national files, the API and an MCP server for AI tools.
About this data
Source: Building Emissions Saving Ordinance (BESO (BMC Chapter 19.81)), as published October 2, 2026. See the methodology for how records are matched, cleaned and scored.
Cite as: BuildingCensus, “Picardo Arms Apartments, Berkeley, California — 2025 benchmarking disclosure”, https://buildingcensus.com/buildings/berkeley/picardo-arms-apartments-f3948729 (data as of October 2, 2026).