540 W 26th St

How does 540 W 26th St compare with other K-12 school buildings in New York City?

The latest disclosures cover 2,301 K-12 school buildings in New York City, out of 48,310 buildings citywide. 540 W 26th St's ENERGY STAR score of 93 compares with an average of 64 across the 2,052 that report a score; it scores higher than 88% of them and lower than 11%. Its site EUI of 64.9 kBtu/ft² is roughly in line with the average of 61.3 kBtu/ft². Its emissions intensity of 6.8 kgCO₂e/ft² is about 42% above the group average of 4.8 kgCO₂e/ft².

At 165,821 sq ft, it is about 64% above the average floor area of 101,338 sq ft for those buildings. It was built in 2016, 63 years later than the group's average year built (1954). Across all 24 jurisdictions BuildingCensus covers, the 6,548 K-12 school buildings average an ENERGY STAR score of 64 and a site EUI of 52.7 kBtu/ft².

How has 540 W 26th St's energy performance changed over time?

BuildingCensus holds 3 New York City disclosures for 540 W 26th St, covering report years 2022–2024. Its ENERGY STAR score went from 94 in 2022 to 93 in 2024 (-1 points); its best year on file was 2022, at 94. Site EUI moved from 71.5 kBtu/ft² (2022) to 64.9 kBtu/ft² (2024), a 9% decrease. Reported emissions went from 881 tCO₂e to 1,128 tCO₂e over the same span (up 28%).

What does an ENERGY STAR score of 93 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 93 means the building performs better than about 93% of its national peers. BuildingCensus bands the score into report-card grades; 93 falls in band A — high performer (85–100). Scores of 75 or higher meet the threshold for ENERGY STAR certification; certification itself is a separate, verified application that the disclosure does not record. 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. 540 W 26th St's 64.9 kBtu/ft² across 165,821 sq ft works out to about 10.8 billion Btu (3,154 MWh-equivalent) in 2024. Its source EUI of 163.0 kBtu/ft² also counts the energy lost generating and delivering that power, which is why it is higher. The disclosure also reports 2,633,596 kWh of electricity, 17,732 therms of natural gas and 2,310 thousand gallons of water for the year.

Which law requires 540 W 26th St to report its energy use?

540 W 26th St 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:10836309:2024). 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.