One Kendall Square

How does One Kendall Square compare with other mixed use property buildings in Cambridge?

The latest disclosures cover 22 mixed use property buildings in Cambridge, out of 902 buildings citywide. One Kendall Square's ENERGY STAR score of 10 compares with an average of 6 across the 5 that report a score; it scores higher than 60% of them and lower than 20%. Its site EUI of 232.3 kBtu/ft² is about 45% above the average of 160.5 kBtu/ft² — it uses more energy per square foot than the typical building in that group.

At 140,058 sq ft, it is about 15% above the average floor area of 121,587 sq ft for those buildings. It was built in 1988, 18 years later than the group's average year built (1970). Across all 24 jurisdictions BuildingCensus covers, the 1,212 mixed use property buildings average an ENERGY STAR score of 69 and a site EUI of 79.8 kBtu/ft².

How has One Kendall Square's energy performance changed over time?

BuildingCensus holds 10 Cambridge disclosures for One Kendall Square, covering report years 2015–2024. Its ENERGY STAR score went from 100 in 2015 to 10 in 2024 (-90 points); its best year on file was 2015, at 100. Site EUI moved from 3.8 kBtu/ft² (2015) to 232.3 kBtu/ft² (2024), an 6013% increase. Reported emissions went from 41 tCO₂e to 1,996 tCO₂e over the same span (up 4742%).

What does an ENERGY STAR score of 10 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 10 means the building performs better than about 10% of its national peers. BuildingCensus bands the score into report-card grades; 10 falls in band D — lowest band (1–54). It sits 65 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. One Kendall Square's 232.3 kBtu/ft² across 140,058 sq ft works out to about 32.5 billion Btu (9,535 MWh-equivalent) in 2024. Its source EUI of 419.4 kBtu/ft² also counts the energy lost generating and delivering that power, which is why it is higher. The disclosure also reports 4,117,278 kWh of electricity, 184,804 therms of natural gas and 2,783 thousand gallons of water for the year.

Which law requires One Kendall Square to report its energy use?

One Kendall Square 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:B1126:2024). 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).