485 1st Ave

How does 485 1st Ave compare with other multifamily housing buildings in New York City?

The latest disclosures cover 33,022 multifamily housing buildings in New York City, out of 48,310 buildings citywide. 485 1st Ave's ENERGY STAR score of 33 compares with an average of 63 across the 22,829 that report a score; it scores higher than 19% of them and lower than 80%. Its site EUI of 105.7 kBtu/ft² is about 41% above the average of 74.9 kBtu/ft² — it uses more energy per square foot than the typical building in that group. Its emissions intensity of 7.1 kgCO₂e/ft² is about 36% above the group average of 5.2 kgCO₂e/ft².

At 127,144 sq ft, it is about 26% above the average floor area of 100,951 sq ft for those buildings. It was built in 1972, 20 years later than the group's average year built (1952). 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.

What does an ENERGY STAR score of 33 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 33 means the building performs better than about 33% of its national peers. BuildingCensus bands the score into report-card grades; 33 falls in band D — lowest band (1–54). It sits 42 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. 485 1st Ave's 105.7 kBtu/ft² across 127,144 sq ft works out to about 13.4 billion Btu (3,939 MWh-equivalent) in 2024. Its source EUI of 152.2 kBtu/ft² also counts the energy lost generating and delivering that power, which is why it is higher. The disclosure also reports 878,781 kWh of electricity and 104,344 therms of natural gas for the year.

Which law requires 485 1st Ave to report its energy use?

485 1st Ave 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:37016911:2024). 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.