501 Santa Monica

How does 501 Santa Monica compare with other office buildings in California?

The latest disclosures cover 6,214 office buildings in California, out of 40,029 buildings citywide. 501 Santa Monica's ENERGY STAR score of 91 compares with an average of 75 across the 4,912 that report a score; it scores higher than 66% of them and lower than 31%. Its site EUI of 43.9 kBtu/ft² is about 22% 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 2.9 kgCO₂e/ft² is about 19% below the group average of 3.6 kgCO₂e/ft².

At 78,509 sq ft, it is about half of the average floor area of 151,937 sq ft for those buildings. It was built in 1975, 10 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 501 Santa Monica's energy performance changed over time?

BuildingCensus holds 7 California disclosures for 501 Santa Monica, covering report years 2018–2024. Its ENERGY STAR score went from 85 in 2018 to 91 in 2024 (+6 points); its best year on file was 2020, at 92. Site EUI moved from 65.8 kBtu/ft² (2018) to 43.9 kBtu/ft² (2024), a 33% decrease. Reported emissions went from 304 tCO₂e to 228 tCO₂e over the same span (down 25%).

What does an ENERGY STAR score of 91 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 91 means the building performs better than about 91% of its national peers. BuildingCensus bands the score into report-card grades; 91 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. 501 Santa Monica's 43.9 kBtu/ft² across 78,509 sq ft works out to about 3.4 billion Btu (1,010 MWh-equivalent) in 2024. The disclosure also reports 593,892 kWh of electricity and 17,524 therms of natural gas for the year.

Which law requires 501 Santa Monica to report its energy use?

501 Santa Monica 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 2024 disclosure (source record california:9292:2024). 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.