243 Broadway

How does 243 Broadway compare with other multifamily housing buildings in Cambridge?

The latest disclosures cover 187 multifamily housing buildings in Cambridge, out of 902 buildings citywide. 243 Broadway's ENERGY STAR score of 52 compares with an average of 75 across the 155 that report a score; it scores higher than 19% of them and lower than 79%. Its site EUI of 62.3 kBtu/ft² is roughly in line with the average of 56.9 kBtu/ft².

At 57,927 sq ft, it is about 56% below the average floor area of 132,415 sq ft for those buildings. It was built in 1879, 94 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 243 Broadway's energy performance changed over time?

BuildingCensus holds 10 Cambridge disclosures for 243 Broadway, covering report years 2015–2024. Its ENERGY STAR score went from 100 in 2015 to 52 in 2024 (-48 points); its best year on file was 2015, at 100. Site EUI moved from 55.2 kBtu/ft² (2015) to 62.3 kBtu/ft² (2024), an 13% increase. Reported emissions went from 294 tCO₂e to 222 tCO₂e over the same span (down 25%).

What does an ENERGY STAR score of 52 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 52 means the building performs better than about 52% of its national peers. BuildingCensus bands the score into report-card grades; 52 falls in band D — lowest band (1–54). It sits 23 points below 75, the threshold for ENERGY STAR certification. 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. 243 Broadway's 62.3 kBtu/ft² across 57,927 sq ft works out to about 3.6 billion Btu (1,058 MWh-equivalent) in 2024. Its source EUI of 113.5 kBtu/ft² also counts the energy lost generating and delivering that power, which is why it is higher. The disclosure also reports 466,351 kWh of electricity, 20,177 therms of natural gas and 1,899 thousand gallons of water for the year.

Which law requires 243 Broadway to report its energy use?

243 Broadway 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:B1793:2024). 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).