556 West 22 Street

How does 556 West 22 Street 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. 556 West 22 Street's ENERGY STAR score of 22 compares with an average of 64 across the 2,052 that report a score; it scores higher than 10% of them and lower than 90%. Its site EUI of 77.8 kBtu/ft² is about 27% above the average of 61.3 kBtu/ft² — it uses more energy per square foot than the typical building in that group. Its emissions intensity of 6.7 kgCO₂e/ft² is about 40% above the group average of 4.8 kgCO₂e/ft².

At 38,207 sq ft, it is about 62% below the average floor area of 101,338 sq ft for those buildings. It was built in 1920, 33 years earlier 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 556 West 22 Street's energy performance changed over time?

BuildingCensus holds 3 New York City disclosures for 556 West 22 Street, covering report years 2022–2024. Its ENERGY STAR score went from 23 in 2022 to 22 in 2024 (-1 points); its best year on file was 2022, at 23. Site EUI moved from 76.1 kBtu/ft² (2022) to 77.8 kBtu/ft² (2024), an 2% increase. Reported emissions went from 169 tCO₂e to 258 tCO₂e over the same span (up 53%).

What does an ENERGY STAR score of 22 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 22 means the building performs better than about 22% of its national peers. BuildingCensus bands the score into report-card grades; 22 falls in band D — lowest band (1–54). It sits 53 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. 556 West 22 Street's 77.8 kBtu/ft² across 38,207 sq ft works out to about 3 billion Btu (871 MWh-equivalent) in 2024. Its source EUI of 155.5 kBtu/ft² also counts the energy lost generating and delivering that power, which is why it is higher. The disclosure also reports 472,364 kWh of electricity and 13,594 therms of natural gas for the year.

Which law requires 556 West 22 Street to report its energy use?

556 West 22 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:19501617:2024). 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.