491 East 165th Street

How does 491 East 165th Street 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. 491 East 165th Street's ENERGY STAR score of 15 compares with an average of 63 across the 22,829 that report a score; it scores higher than 9% of them and lower than 90%. Its site EUI of 112.5 kBtu/ft² is about 50% 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 8.3 kgCO₂e/ft² is about 60% above the group average of 5.2 kgCO₂e/ft².

At 35,364 sq ft, it is about 65% below the average floor area of 100,951 sq ft for those buildings. It was built in 2014, 62 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.

How has 491 East 165th Street's energy performance changed over time?

BuildingCensus holds 2 New York City disclosures for 491 East 165th Street, covering report years 2023–2024. Its ENERGY STAR score went from 90 in 2023 to 15 in 2024 (-75 points); its best year on file was 2023, at 90. Site EUI moved from 35.1 kBtu/ft² (2023) to 112.5 kBtu/ft² (2024), an 221% increase. Reported emissions went from 135 tCO₂e to 294 tCO₂e over the same span (up 118%).

What does an ENERGY STAR score of 15 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 15 means the building performs better than about 15% of its national peers. BuildingCensus bands the score into report-card grades; 15 falls in band D — lowest band (1–54). It sits 60 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. 491 East 165th Street's 112.5 kBtu/ft² across 35,364 sq ft works out to about 4 billion Btu (1,166 MWh-equivalent) in 2024. Its source EUI of 184.2 kBtu/ft² also counts the energy lost generating and delivering that power, which is why it is higher. The disclosure also reports 391,002 kWh of electricity, 26,459 therms of natural gas and 1,646 thousand gallons of water for the year.

Which law requires 491 East 165th Street to report its energy use?

491 East 165th 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 2024 disclosure (source record nyc:33630673:2024). 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.