131 Washington Street

How does 131 Washington Street compare with other multifamily housing buildings in Cambridge?

The latest disclosures cover 187 multifamily housing buildings in Cambridge, out of 902 buildings citywide. 131 Washington Street's ENERGY STAR score of 75 compares with an average of 75 across the 155 that report a score; it scores higher than 39% of them and lower than 61%. Its site EUI of 66.8 kBtu/ft² is about 17% above the average of 56.9 kBtu/ft² — it uses more energy per square foot than the typical building in that group.

At 200,075 sq ft, it is about 51% above the average floor area of 132,415 sq ft for those buildings. It was built in 1942, 31 years earlier than the group's average year built (1973). 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 131 Washington Street's energy performance changed over time?

BuildingCensus holds 10 Cambridge disclosures for 131 Washington Street, covering report years 2015–2024. Its ENERGY STAR score went from 32 in 2015 to 75 in 2024 (+43 points). Site EUI moved from 106.9 kBtu/ft² (2015) to 66.8 kBtu/ft² (2024), a 38% decrease. Reported emissions went from 1,203 tCO₂e to 760 tCO₂e over the same span (down 37%).

What does an ENERGY STAR score of 75 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 75 means the building performs better than about 75% of its national peers. BuildingCensus bands the score into report-card grades; 75 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 Cambridge, 50% 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. 131 Washington Street's 66.8 kBtu/ft² across 200,075 sq ft works out to about 13.4 billion Btu (3,917 MWh-equivalent) in 2024. Its source EUI of 101.6 kBtu/ft² also counts the energy lost generating and delivering that power, which is why it is higher. The disclosure also reports 1,056,859 kWh of electricity, 94,023 therms of natural gas and 17,377 thousand gallons of water for the year.

Which law requires 131 Washington Street to report its energy use?

131 Washington Street reports under BEUDO, the legal basis of Cambridge's Building Energy Use Disclosure Ordinance (BEUDO), which publishes each covered building's annual benchmarking results. The record shown here is the report-year 2024 disclosure (source record cambridge:B1736:2024). Cambridge's 2023 BEUDO amendments require non-residential buildings of 100,000+ sq ft to reach net-zero emissions by 2035 (reductions starting 2026) and those of 25,000–100,000 sq ft by 2050 (starting 2030).