500 West 188th Street

How does 500 West 188th 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. 500 West 188th Street's ENERGY STAR score of 52 compares with an average of 63 across the 22,829 that report a score; it scores higher than 33% of them and lower than 66%. Its site EUI of 85.2 kBtu/ft² is about 14% 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 6.4 kgCO₂e/ft² is about 23% above the group average of 5.2 kgCO₂e/ft².

At 48,366 sq ft, it is about half of the average floor area of 100,951 sq ft for those buildings. It was built in 1925, 27 years earlier 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 500 West 188th Street's energy performance changed over time?

BuildingCensus holds 2 New York City disclosures for 500 West 188th Street, covering report years 2022–2023. Its ENERGY STAR score went from 32 in 2022 to 52 in 2023 (+20 points). Site EUI moved from 110.2 kBtu/ft² (2022) to 85.2 kBtu/ft² (2023), a 23% decrease. Reported emissions went from 376 tCO₂e to 308 tCO₂e over the same span (down 18%).

What does an ENERGY STAR score of 52 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 52 means the building performs better than about 52% of its national peers. BuildingCensus bands the score into report-card grades; 52 falls in band D — lowest band (1–54). It sits 23 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. 500 West 188th Street's 85.2 kBtu/ft² across 48,366 sq ft works out to about 4.1 billion Btu (1,208 MWh-equivalent) in 2023. Its source EUI of 116.2 kBtu/ft² also counts the energy lost generating and delivering that power, which is why it is higher. The disclosure also reports 230,475 kWh of electricity and 12,098 therms of natural gas for the year.

Which law requires 500 West 188th Street to report its energy use?

500 West 188th 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:15116395:2023). 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.