Bethesda Place I

How does Bethesda Place I compare with other office buildings in Montgomery County?

The latest disclosures cover 414 office buildings in Montgomery County, out of 1,766 buildings citywide. Bethesda Place I's ENERGY STAR score of 65 compares with an average of 63 across the 325 that report a score; it scores higher than 43% of them and lower than 55%. Its site EUI of 66.0 kBtu/ft² is roughly in line with the average of 66.5 kBtu/ft² — it uses less energy per square foot than the typical building in that group.

At 240,761 sq ft, it is about 82% above the average floor area of 132,356 sq ft for those buildings. Its 1989 construction date is close to the group's average year built (1987). 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 Bethesda Place I's energy performance changed over time?

BuildingCensus holds 2 Montgomery County disclosures for Bethesda Place I, covering report years 2023–2024. Its ENERGY STAR score was 65 in both 2023 and 2024. Site EUI moved from 66.0 kBtu/ft² (2023) to 66.0 kBtu/ft² (2024), an 0% increase. Reported emissions went from 1,428 tCO₂e to 1,395 tCO₂e over the same span (down 2%).

What does an ENERGY STAR score of 65 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 65 means the building performs better than about 65% of its national peers. BuildingCensus bands the score into report-card grades; 65 falls in band C — below median (55–69). It sits 10 points below 75, the threshold for ENERGY STAR certification. In Montgomery County, 53% 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. Bethesda Place I's 66.0 kBtu/ft² across 240,761 sq ft works out to about 15.9 billion Btu (4,657 MWh-equivalent) in 2024. Its source EUI of 184.8 kBtu/ft² also counts the energy lost generating and delivering that power, which is why it is higher. The disclosure also reports 4,657,268 kWh of electricity and 0 therms of natural gas for the year.

Which law requires Bethesda Place I to report its energy use?

Bethesda Place I reports under the Benchmarking Law (Bill 2-14) / BEPS (Bill 16-21), the legal basis of Montgomery County's Commercial Building Energy Benchmarking program, which publishes each covered building's annual benchmarking results. The record shown here is the report-year 2024 disclosure (source record montgomery_county:1744366:2024). Montgomery County's BEPS (Bill 16-21; regulations approved in 2025) sets declining site-EUI standards for buildings of 25,000+ sq ft, with interim and then final standards later this decade and into the 2030s depending on building type.