Sonoma Elementary School

How does Sonoma Elementary School compare with other K-12 school buildings in California?

The latest disclosures cover 2,128 K-12 school buildings in California, out of 40,029 buildings citywide. Sonoma Elementary School's ENERGY STAR score of 72 compares with an average of 74 across the 2,016 that report a score; it scores higher than 37% of them and lower than 62%. Its site EUI of 57.2 kBtu/ft² is about 65% above the average of 34.6 kBtu/ft² — it uses more energy per square foot than the typical building in that group. Its emissions intensity of 3.4 kgCO₂e/ft² is about 71% above the group average of 2.0 kgCO₂e/ft².

At 56,295 sq ft, it is about 56% below the average floor area of 129,123 sq ft for those buildings. It was built in 1980, 4 years later than the group's average year built (1976). Across all 24 jurisdictions BuildingCensus covers, the 6,548 K-12 school buildings average an ENERGY STAR score of 64 and a site EUI of 52.7 kBtu/ft².

How has Sonoma Elementary School's energy performance changed over time?

BuildingCensus holds 3 California disclosures for Sonoma Elementary School, covering report years 2022–2024. Its ENERGY STAR score went from 49 in 2022 to 72 in 2024 (+23 points). Site EUI moved from 53.2 kBtu/ft² (2022) to 57.2 kBtu/ft² (2024), an 8% increase. Reported emissions went from 184 tCO₂e to 192 tCO₂e over the same span (up 5%).

What does an ENERGY STAR score of 72 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 72 means the building performs better than about 72% of its national peers. BuildingCensus bands the score into report-card grades; 72 falls in band B — above median (70–84). It sits 3 points below 75, the threshold for ENERGY STAR certification. 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. Sonoma Elementary School's 57.2 kBtu/ft² across 56,295 sq ft works out to about 3.2 billion Btu (944 MWh-equivalent) in 2024. The disclosure also reports 478,806 kWh of electricity and 15,810 therms of natural gas for the year.

Which law requires Sonoma Elementary School to report its energy use?

Sonoma Elementary School 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:21001942:2024). 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.