251 S. Lake

How does 251 S. Lake compare with other office buildings in California?

The latest disclosures cover 6,214 office buildings in California, out of 40,029 buildings citywide. 251 S. Lake's ENERGY STAR score of 85 compares with an average of 75 across the 4,912 that report a score; it scores higher than 52% of them and lower than 46%. Its site EUI of 36.2 kBtu/ft² is about 36% below the average of 56.4 kBtu/ft² — it uses less energy per square foot than the typical building in that group. Its emissions intensity of 2.3 kgCO₂e/ft² is about 36% below the group average of 3.6 kgCO₂e/ft².

At 207,082 sq ft, it is about 36% above the average floor area of 151,937 sq ft for those buildings. It was built in 1972, 13 years earlier than the group's average year built (1985). Across all 24 jurisdictions BuildingCensus covers, the 15,264 office buildings average an ENERGY STAR score of 73 and a site EUI of 59.3 kBtu/ft².

How has 251 S. Lake's energy performance changed over time?

BuildingCensus holds 2 California disclosures for 251 S. Lake, covering report years 2019–2020. Its ENERGY STAR score went from 91 in 2019 to 85 in 2020 (-6 points); its best year on file was 2019, at 91. Site EUI moved from 38.6 kBtu/ft² (2019) to 36.2 kBtu/ft² (2020), a 6% decrease. Reported emissions went from 499 tCO₂e to 471 tCO₂e over the same span (down 6%).

What does an ENERGY STAR score of 85 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 85 means the building performs better than about 85% of its national peers. BuildingCensus bands the score into report-card grades; 85 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 California, 65% 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. 251 S. Lake's 36.2 kBtu/ft² across 207,082 sq ft works out to about 7.5 billion Btu (2,197 MWh-equivalent) in 2020. The disclosure also reports 1,815,238 kWh of electricity and 11,305 therms of natural gas for the year.

Which law requires 251 S. Lake to report its energy use?

251 S. Lake reports under AB 802 (Public Resources Code §25402.10), the legal basis of California's Building Energy Benchmarking Program (statewide), which publishes each covered building's annual benchmarking results. The record shown here is the report-year 2020 disclosure (source record california:3476549:2020). AB 802 requires every California commercial building over 50,000 sq ft to report energy use to the CEC annually; the CEC publicly discloses the results statewide.