Acorn 3

How does Acorn 3 compare with other multifamily housing buildings in California?

The latest disclosures cover 10,630 multifamily housing buildings in California, out of 40,029 buildings citywide. Acorn 3's ENERGY STAR score of 78 compares with an average of 82 across the 9,612 that report a score; it scores higher than 30% of them and lower than 69%. Its site EUI of 48.3 kBtu/ft² is about 40% above the average of 34.4 kBtu/ft² — it uses more energy per square foot than the typical building in that group. Its emissions intensity of 2.6 kgCO₂e/ft² is about 24% above the group average of 2.1 kgCO₂e/ft².

At 94,801 sq ft, it is about 37% below the average floor area of 150,919 sq ft for those buildings. It was built in 1965, 23 years earlier than the group's average year built (1988). Across all 24 jurisdictions BuildingCensus covers, the 59,945 multifamily housing buildings average an ENERGY STAR score of 70 and a site EUI of 59.0 kBtu/ft².

How has Acorn 3's energy performance changed over time?

BuildingCensus holds 3 California disclosures for Acorn 3, covering report years 2019–2021. Its ENERGY STAR score went from 73 in 2019 to 78 in 2021 (+5 points). Site EUI moved from 51.5 kBtu/ft² (2019) to 48.3 kBtu/ft² (2021), a 6% decrease. Reported emissions went from 267 tCO₂e to 245 tCO₂e over the same span (down 8%).

What does an ENERGY STAR score of 78 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 78 means the building performs better than about 78% of its national peers. BuildingCensus bands the score into report-card grades; 78 falls in band B — above median (70–84). 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. Acorn 3's 48.3 kBtu/ft² across 94,801 sq ft works out to about 4.6 billion Btu (1,342 MWh-equivalent) in 2021. The disclosure also reports 367,247 kWh of electricity and 31,833 therms of natural gas for the year.

Which law requires Acorn 3 to report its energy use?

Acorn 3 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 2021 disclosure (source record california:6047606:2021). 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.