One Memorial Drive

How does One Memorial Drive compare with other office buildings in Cambridge?

The latest disclosures cover 117 office buildings in Cambridge, out of 902 buildings citywide. One Memorial Drive's ENERGY STAR score of 83 compares with an average of 64 across the 94 that report a score; it scores higher than 71% of them and lower than 27%. Its site EUI of 49.5 kBtu/ft² is about 37% below the average of 78.7 kBtu/ft² — it uses less energy per square foot than the typical building in that group.

At 369,436 sq ft, it is about 205% above the average floor area of 121,167 sq ft for those buildings. It was built in 1985, 20 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 Memorial Drive's energy performance changed over time?

BuildingCensus holds 10 Cambridge disclosures for One Memorial Drive, covering report years 2015–2024. Its ENERGY STAR score went from 60 in 2018 to 83 in 2024 (+23 points). Site EUI moved from 86.0 kBtu/ft² (2015) to 49.5 kBtu/ft² (2024), a 42% decrease. Reported emissions went from 2,513 tCO₂e to 1,307 tCO₂e over the same span (down 48%).

What does an ENERGY STAR score of 83 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 83 means the building performs better than about 83% of its national peers. BuildingCensus bands the score into report-card grades; 83 falls in band B — above median (70–84). 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. One Memorial Drive's 49.5 kBtu/ft² across 369,436 sq ft works out to about 18.3 billion Btu (5,359 MWh-equivalent) in 2024. Its source EUI of 135.2 kBtu/ft² also counts the energy lost generating and delivering that power, which is why it is higher. The disclosure also reports 5,147,977 kWh of electricity, 7,190 therms of natural gas and 2,810 thousand gallons of water for the year.

Which law requires One Memorial Drive to report its energy use?

One Memorial Drive 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:B1382:2024). 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).