425 West 121 Street

How does 425 West 121 Street compare with other residence hall/dormitory buildings in New York City?

The latest disclosures cover 343 residence hall/dormitory buildings in New York City, out of 48,310 buildings citywide. 425 West 121 Street's ENERGY STAR score of 56 compares with an average of 69 across the 177 that report a score; it scores higher than 27% of them and lower than 71%. Its site EUI of 78.6 kBtu/ft² is roughly in line with the average of 79.6 kBtu/ft² — it uses less energy per square foot than the typical building in that group. Its emissions intensity of 6.1 kgCO₂e/ft² is about 11% above the group average of 5.5 kgCO₂e/ft².

At 122,100 sq ft, it is about 43% above the average floor area of 85,583 sq ft for those buildings. It was built in 1900, 46 years earlier than the group's average year built (1947). Across all 24 jurisdictions BuildingCensus covers, the 702 residence hall/dormitory buildings average an ENERGY STAR score of 70 and a site EUI of 70.7 kBtu/ft².

How has 425 West 121 Street's energy performance changed over time?

BuildingCensus holds 2 New York City disclosures for 425 West 121 Street, covering report years 2022–2023. Its ENERGY STAR score went from 48 in 2022 to 56 in 2023 (+8 points). Site EUI moved from 92.6 kBtu/ft² (2022) to 78.6 kBtu/ft² (2023), a 15% decrease. Reported emissions went from 761 tCO₂e to 741 tCO₂e over the same span (down 3%).

What does an ENERGY STAR score of 56 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 56 means the building performs better than about 56% of its national peers. BuildingCensus bands the score into report-card grades; 56 falls in band C — below median (55–69). It sits 19 points below 75, the threshold for ENERGY STAR certification. 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. 425 West 121 Street's 78.6 kBtu/ft² across 122,100 sq ft works out to about 9.6 billion Btu (2,813 MWh-equivalent) in 2023. Its source EUI of 142.2 kBtu/ft² also counts the energy lost generating and delivering that power, which is why it is higher. The disclosure also reports 1,220,629 kWh of electricity, 54,302 therms of natural gas and 6,430 thousand gallons of water for the year.

Which law requires 425 West 121 Street to report its energy use?

425 West 121 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:2809888:2023). 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.