The Pearl

How does The Pearl compare with other multifamily housing buildings in Montgomery County?

The latest disclosures cover 553 multifamily housing buildings in Montgomery County, out of 1,766 buildings citywide. The Pearl's ENERGY STAR score of 93 compares with an average of 80 across the 514 that report a score; it scores higher than 61% of them and lower than 35%. Its site EUI of 31.7 kBtu/ft² is about 27% below the average of 43.2 kBtu/ft² — it uses less energy per square foot than the typical building in that group.

At 317,433 sq ft, it is about 60% above the average floor area of 198,668 sq ft for those buildings. It was built in 2017, 28 years later than the group's average year built (1989). Across all 24 jurisdictions BuildingCensus covers, the 59,945 multifamily housing buildings average an ENERGY STAR score of 70 and a site EUI of 59.0 kBtu/ft².

How has The Pearl's energy performance changed over time?

BuildingCensus holds 2 Montgomery County disclosures for The Pearl, covering report years 2023–2024. Its ENERGY STAR score went from 92 in 2023 to 93 in 2024 (+1 points). Site EUI moved from 30.6 kBtu/ft² (2023) to 31.7 kBtu/ft² (2024), an 4% increase. Reported emissions went from 852 tCO₂e to 854 tCO₂e over the same span (up 0%).

What does an ENERGY STAR score of 93 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 93 means the building performs better than about 93% of its national peers. BuildingCensus bands the score into report-card grades; 93 falls in band A — high performer (85–100). 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 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 Pearl's 31.7 kBtu/ft² across 317,433 sq ft works out to about 10.1 billion Btu (2,949 MWh-equivalent) in 2024. Its source EUI of 84.0 kBtu/ft² also counts the energy lost generating and delivering that power, which is why it is higher. The disclosure also reports 2,692,759 kWh of electricity and 8,748 therms of natural gas for the year.

Which law requires The Pearl to report its energy use?

The Pearl 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:4793102:2024). 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.