515 W 170th Street

How does 515 W 170th 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. 515 W 170th Street's ENERGY STAR score of 71 compares with an average of 63 across the 22,829 that report a score; it scores higher than 52% of them and lower than 47%. Its site EUI of 84.6 kBtu/ft² is about 13% 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 5.3 kgCO₂e/ft² is roughly in line with the group average of 5.2 kgCO₂e/ft².

At 29,260 sq ft, it is about 71% below the average floor area of 100,951 sq ft for those buildings. It was built in 1917, 35 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 515 W 170th Street's energy performance changed over time?

BuildingCensus holds 3 New York City disclosures for 515 W 170th Street, covering report years 2022–2024. Its ENERGY STAR score was 71 in both 2022 and 2024. Site EUI moved from 88.4 kBtu/ft² (2022) to 84.6 kBtu/ft² (2024), a 4% decrease. Reported emissions went from 150 tCO₂e to 156 tCO₂e over the same span (up 4%).

What does an ENERGY STAR score of 71 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 71 means the building performs better than about 71% of its national peers. BuildingCensus bands the score into report-card grades; 71 falls in band B — above median (70–84). It sits 4 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. 515 W 170th Street's 84.6 kBtu/ft² across 29,260 sq ft works out to about 2.5 billion Btu (725 MWh-equivalent) in 2024. Its source EUI of 112.1 kBtu/ft² also counts the energy lost generating and delivering that power, which is why it is higher. The disclosure also reports 114,445 kWh of electricity, 20,839 therms of natural gas and 2,756 thousand gallons of water for the year.

Which law requires 515 W 170th Street to report its energy use?

515 W 170th 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:6702261:2024). 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.