Merced, Ca-0494

How does Merced, Ca-0494 compare with other retail store buildings in California?

The latest disclosures cover 1,742 retail store buildings in California, out of 40,029 buildings citywide. Merced, Ca-0494's ENERGY STAR score of 85 compares with an average of 76 across the 1,305 that report a score; it scores higher than 41% of them and lower than 57%. Its site EUI of 29.0 kBtu/ft² is about half of the average of 53.2 kBtu/ft² — it uses less energy per square foot than the typical building in that group. Its emissions intensity of 2.1 kgCO₂e/ft² is about 36% below the group average of 3.3 kgCO₂e/ft².

At 96,839 sq ft, it is about 22% below the average floor area of 124,053 sq ft for those buildings. It was built in 1977, 14 years earlier than the group's average year built (1991). Across all 24 jurisdictions BuildingCensus covers, the 3,025 retail store buildings average an ENERGY STAR score of 73 and a site EUI of 57.7 kBtu/ft².

How has Merced, Ca-0494's energy performance changed over time?

BuildingCensus holds 4 California disclosures for Merced, Ca-0494, covering report years 2018, 2020, 2021, 2022. Its ENERGY STAR score went from 68 in 2018 to 85 in 2022 (+17 points); its best year on file was 2020, at 92. Site EUI moved from 38.0 kBtu/ft² (2018) to 29.0 kBtu/ft² (2022), a 24% decrease. Reported emissions went from 261 tCO₂e to 201 tCO₂e over the same span (down 23%).

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. Merced, Ca-0494's 29.0 kBtu/ft² across 96,839 sq ft works out to about 2.8 billion Btu (823 MWh-equivalent) in 2022. The disclosure also reports 843,975 kWh of electricity and 609 therms of natural gas for the year.

Which law requires Merced, Ca-0494 to report its energy use?

Merced, Ca-0494 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 2022 disclosure (source record california:1166191:2022). 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.