1533-1541 Mass Avenue

How does 1533-1541 Mass Avenue compare with other residence hall/dormitory buildings in Cambridge?

The latest disclosures cover 43 residence hall/dormitory buildings in Cambridge, out of 902 buildings citywide. 1533-1541 Mass Avenue's ENERGY STAR score of 94 compares with an average of 80 across the 27 that report a score; it scores higher than 85% of them and lower than 4%. Its site EUI of 31.7 kBtu/ft² is about half of the average of 70.2 kBtu/ft² — it uses less energy per square foot than the typical building in that group.

At 64,412 sq ft, it is about 37% below the average floor area of 102,348 sq ft for those buildings. It was built in 1889, 27 years earlier than the group's average year built (1916). Across all 24 jurisdictions BuildingCensus covers, the 702 residence hall/dormitory buildings average an ENERGY STAR score of 70 and a site EUI of 70.7 kBtu/ft².

How has 1533-1541 Mass Avenue's energy performance changed over time?

BuildingCensus holds 10 Cambridge disclosures for 1533-1541 Mass Avenue, covering report years 2015–2024. Its ENERGY STAR score went from 86 in 2015 to 94 in 2024 (+8 points); its best year on file was 2020, at 100. Site EUI moved from 63.3 kBtu/ft² (2015) to 31.7 kBtu/ft² (2024), a 50% decrease. Reported emissions went from 266 tCO₂e to 138 tCO₂e over the same span (down 48%).

What does an ENERGY STAR score of 94 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 94 means the building performs better than about 94% of its national peers. BuildingCensus bands the score into report-card grades; 94 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 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. 1533-1541 Mass Avenue's 31.7 kBtu/ft² across 64,412 sq ft works out to about 2 billion Btu (598 MWh-equivalent) in 2024. Its source EUI of 59.2 kBtu/ft² also counts the energy lost generating and delivering that power, which is why it is higher. The disclosure also reports 253,686 kWh of electricity, 1,866 therms of natural gas and 515 thousand gallons of water for the year.

Which law requires 1533-1541 Mass Avenue to report its energy use?

1533-1541 Mass Avenue 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:B1144:2024). 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).