One Kendall Square

How does One Kendall Square compare with other office buildings in Cambridge?

The latest disclosures cover 117 office buildings in Cambridge, out of 902 buildings citywide. One Kendall Square's ENERGY STAR score of 42 compares with an average of 64 across the 94 that report a score; it scores higher than 18% of them and lower than 81%. Its site EUI of 75.8 kBtu/ft² is roughly in line with the average of 78.7 kBtu/ft² — it uses less energy per square foot than the typical building in that group.

At 25,932 sq ft, it is about 79% below the average floor area of 121,167 sq ft for those buildings. It was built in 1988, 23 years later than the group's average year built (1965). Across all 24 jurisdictions BuildingCensus covers, the 15,264 office buildings average an ENERGY STAR score of 73 and a site EUI of 59.3 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 96 in 2015 to 42 in 2024 (-54 points); its best year on file was 2015, at 96. Site EUI moved from 24.4 kBtu/ft² (2015) to 75.8 kBtu/ft² (2024), an 211% increase. Reported emissions went from 49 tCO₂e to 142 tCO₂e over the same span (up 193%).

What does an ENERGY STAR score of 42 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 42 means the building performs better than about 42% of its national peers. BuildingCensus bands the score into report-card grades; 42 falls in band D — lowest band (1–54). It sits 33 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 75.8 kBtu/ft² across 25,932 sq ft works out to about 2 billion Btu (576 MWh-equivalent) in 2024. Its source EUI of 212.3 kBtu/ft² also counts the energy lost generating and delivering that power, which is why it is higher. The disclosure also reports 576,227 kWh of electricity and 1,063 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:B1373:2024). 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).