42 West 38 Street

How does 42 West 38 Street compare with other office buildings in New York City?

The latest disclosures cover 3,384 office buildings in New York City, out of 48,310 buildings citywide. 42 West 38 Street's ENERGY STAR score of 89 compares with an average of 72 across the 2,519 that report a score; it scores higher than 72% of them and lower than 26%. Its site EUI of 36.8 kBtu/ft² is about 43% below the average of 64.5 kBtu/ft² — it uses less energy per square foot than the typical building in that group. Its emissions intensity of 3.5 kgCO₂e/ft² is about 40% below the group average of 5.8 kgCO₂e/ft².

At 66,577 sq ft, it is about 68% below the average floor area of 205,440 sq ft for those buildings. It was built in 1916, 24 years earlier than the group's average year built (1940). 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 42 West 38 Street's energy performance changed over time?

BuildingCensus holds 2 New York City disclosures for 42 West 38 Street, covering report years 2022–2023. Its ENERGY STAR score went from 92 in 2022 to 89 in 2023 (-3 points); its best year on file was 2022, at 92. Site EUI moved from 31.6 kBtu/ft² (2022) to 36.8 kBtu/ft² (2023), an 16% increase. Reported emissions went from 166 tCO₂e to 232 tCO₂e over the same span (up 40%).

What does an ENERGY STAR score of 89 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 89 means the building performs better than about 89% of its national peers. BuildingCensus bands the score into report-card grades; 89 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 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. 42 West 38 Street's 36.8 kBtu/ft² across 66,577 sq ft works out to about 2.5 billion Btu (718 MWh-equivalent) in 2023. Its source EUI of 86.9 kBtu/ft² also counts the energy lost generating and delivering that power, which is why it is higher. The disclosure also reports 538,709 kWh of electricity, 6,106 therms of natural gas and 699 thousand gallons of water for the year.

Which law requires 42 West 38 Street to report its energy use?

42 West 38 Street 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 2023 disclosure (source record nyc:20642954:2023). 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.