The District I

How does The District 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. The District I's ENERGY STAR score of 69 compares with an average of 63 across the 325 that report a score; it scores higher than 49% of them and lower than 50%. Its site EUI of 44.8 kBtu/ft² is about 33% below the average of 66.5 kBtu/ft² — it uses less energy per square foot than the typical building in that group.

At 158,570 sq ft, it is about 20% above the average floor area of 132,356 sq ft for those buildings. It was built in 1999, 12 years later than 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 The District I's energy performance changed over time?

BuildingCensus holds 2 Montgomery County disclosures for The District I, covering report years 2023–2024. Its ENERGY STAR score went from 74 in 2023 to 69 in 2024 (-5 points); its best year on file was 2023, at 74. Site EUI moved from 40.3 kBtu/ft² (2023) to 44.8 kBtu/ft² (2024), an 11% increase. Reported emissions went from 574 tCO₂e to 623 tCO₂e over the same span (up 9%).

What does an ENERGY STAR score of 69 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 69 means the building performs better than about 69% of its national peers. BuildingCensus bands the score into report-card grades; 69 falls in band C — below median (55–69). It sits 6 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. The District I's 44.8 kBtu/ft² across 158,570 sq ft works out to about 7.1 billion Btu (2,082 MWh-equivalent) in 2024. Its source EUI of 125.4 kBtu/ft² also counts the energy lost generating and delivering that power, which is why it is higher. The disclosure also reports 2,081,554 kWh of electricity and 0 therms of natural gas for the year.

Which law requires The District I to report its energy use?

The District 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:16017529:2024). 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.