71-61 159th St

How does 71-61 159th St compare with other senior living community buildings in New York City?

The latest disclosures cover 296 senior living community buildings in New York City, out of 48,310 buildings citywide. 71-61 159th St's ENERGY STAR score of 80 compares with an average of 57 across the 229 that report a score; it scores higher than 66% of them and lower than 33%. Its site EUI of 98.4 kBtu/ft² is about 12% below the average of 112.0 kBtu/ft² — it uses less energy per square foot than the typical building in that group. Its emissions intensity of 7.3 kgCO₂e/ft² is about 14% below the group average of 8.5 kgCO₂e/ft².

At 184,024 sq ft, it is about 69% above the average floor area of 108,590 sq ft for those buildings. It was built in 2000, 26 years later than the group's average year built (1974). Across all 24 jurisdictions BuildingCensus covers, the 1,181 senior living community buildings average an ENERGY STAR score of 71 and a site EUI of 73.6 kBtu/ft².

How has 71-61 159th St's energy performance changed over time?

BuildingCensus holds 3 New York City disclosures for 71-61 159th St, covering report years 2022–2024. Its ENERGY STAR score went from 56 in 2022 to 80 in 2024 (+24 points). Site EUI moved from 117.0 kBtu/ft² (2022) to 98.4 kBtu/ft² (2024), a 16% decrease. Reported emissions went from 1,220 tCO₂e to 1,351 tCO₂e over the same span (up 11%).

What does an ENERGY STAR score of 80 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 80 means the building performs better than about 80% of its national peers. BuildingCensus bands the score into report-card grades; 80 falls in band B — above median (70–84). 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. 71-61 159th St's 98.4 kBtu/ft² across 184,024 sq ft works out to about 18.1 billion Btu (5,307 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 1,838,516 kWh of electricity, 118,376 therms of natural gas and 7,302 thousand gallons of water for the year.

Which law requires 71-61 159th St to report its energy use?

71-61 159th 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:4043178:2024). 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.