90 Varick Avenue

How does 90 Varick Avenue compare with other refrigerated warehouse buildings in New York City?

The latest disclosures cover 64 refrigerated warehouse buildings in New York City, out of 48,310 buildings citywide. 90 Varick Avenue's ENERGY STAR score of 20 compares with an average of 50 across the 51 that report a score; it scores higher than 20% of them and lower than 76%. Its site EUI of 116.8 kBtu/ft² is about 67% above the average of 69.9 kBtu/ft² — it uses more energy per square foot than the typical building in that group. Its emissions intensity of 11.9 kgCO₂e/ft² is about 77% above the group average of 6.7 kgCO₂e/ft².

At 36,952 sq ft, it is about half of the average floor area of 78,204 sq ft for those buildings. It was built in 2008, 45 years later than the group's average year built (1963). Across all 24 jurisdictions BuildingCensus covers, the 472 refrigerated warehouse buildings average an ENERGY STAR score of 52 and a site EUI of 76.3 kBtu/ft².

How has 90 Varick Avenue's energy performance changed over time?

BuildingCensus holds 3 New York City disclosures for 90 Varick Avenue, covering report years 2022–2024. Its ENERGY STAR score went from 31 in 2022 to 20 in 2024 (-11 points); its best year on file was 2022, at 31. Site EUI moved from 101.7 kBtu/ft² (2022) to 116.8 kBtu/ft² (2024), an 15% increase. Reported emissions went from 285 tCO₂e to 438 tCO₂e over the same span (up 54%).

What does an ENERGY STAR score of 20 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 20 means the building performs better than about 20% of its national peers. BuildingCensus bands the score into report-card grades; 20 falls in band D — lowest band (1–54). It sits 55 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. 90 Varick Avenue's 116.8 kBtu/ft² across 36,952 sq ft works out to about 4.3 billion Btu (1,265 MWh-equivalent) in 2024. Its source EUI of 282.5 kBtu/ft² also counts the energy lost generating and delivering that power, which is why it is higher. The disclosure also reports 988,950 kWh of electricity, 9,432 therms of natural gas and 129 thousand gallons of water for the year.

Which law requires 90 Varick Avenue to report its energy use?

90 Varick Avenue 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:23261506:2024). 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.