1531, One Union Square South

How does 1531, One Union Square South compare with other retail store buildings in New York City?

The latest disclosures cover 525 retail store buildings in New York City, out of 48,310 buildings citywide. 1531, One Union Square South's ENERGY STAR score of 81 compares with an average of 62 across the 270 that report a score; it scores higher than 60% of them and lower than 39%. Its site EUI of 49.4 kBtu/ft² is about 34% below the average of 75.0 kBtu/ft² — it uses less energy per square foot than the typical building in that group. Its emissions intensity of 5.7 kgCO₂e/ft² is about 12% below the group average of 6.5 kgCO₂e/ft².

At 50,455 sq ft, it is about 38% below the average floor area of 81,524 sq ft for those buildings. It was built in 2009, 47 years later than the group's average year built (1963). Across all 24 jurisdictions BuildingCensus covers, the 3,025 retail store buildings average an ENERGY STAR score of 73 and a site EUI of 57.7 kBtu/ft².

What does an ENERGY STAR score of 81 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 81 means the building performs better than about 81% of its national peers. BuildingCensus bands the score into report-card grades; 81 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 New York City, 43% 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. 1531, One Union Square South's 49.4 kBtu/ft² across 50,455 sq ft works out to about 2.5 billion Btu (730 MWh-equivalent) in 2024. Its source EUI of 138.4 kBtu/ft² also counts the energy lost generating and delivering that power, which is why it is higher. The disclosure also reports 731,016 kWh of electricity for the year.

Which law requires 1531, One Union Square South to report its energy use?

1531, One Union Square South reports under Local Law 84 (LL84), the legal basis of New York City's Energy and Water Data Disclosure program, which publishes each covered building's annual benchmarking results. The record shown here is the report-year 2024 disclosure (source record nyc:6681972:2024). Under Local Law 97, buildings over 25,000 sq ft face carbon caps with fines of $268 per metric ton of CO₂e over the limit, phasing in from 2024.