4-6 Canal Park

How does 4-6 Canal Park compare with other multifamily housing buildings in Cambridge?

The latest disclosures cover 187 multifamily housing buildings in Cambridge, out of 902 buildings citywide. 4-6 Canal Park's ENERGY STAR score of 94 compares with an average of 75 across the 155 that report a score; it scores higher than 71% of them and lower than 27%. Its site EUI of 34.0 kBtu/ft² is about 40% below the average of 56.9 kBtu/ft² — it uses less energy per square foot than the typical building in that group.

At 219,456 sq ft, it is about 66% above the average floor area of 132,415 sq ft for those buildings. It was built in 1990, 17 years later 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 4-6 Canal Park's energy performance changed over time?

BuildingCensus holds 10 Cambridge disclosures for 4-6 Canal Park, covering report years 2015–2024. Its ENERGY STAR score went from 87 in 2015 to 94 in 2024 (+7 points); its best year on file was 2023, at 94. Site EUI moved from 39.7 kBtu/ft² (2015) to 34.0 kBtu/ft² (2024), a 14% decrease. Reported emissions went from 607 tCO₂e to 495 tCO₂e over the same span (down 18%).

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. 4-6 Canal Park's 34.0 kBtu/ft² across 219,456 sq ft works out to about 7.5 billion Btu (2,187 MWh-equivalent) in 2024. Its source EUI of 77.2 kBtu/ft² also counts the energy lost generating and delivering that power, which is why it is higher. The disclosure also reports 1,525,211 kWh of electricity, 22,480 therms of natural gas and 5,188 thousand gallons of water for the year.

Which law requires 4-6 Canal Park to report its energy use?

4-6 Canal Park 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:B1751:2024). 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).