Rubin Hall

How does Rubin Hall compare with other residence hall/dormitory buildings in New York City?

The latest disclosures cover 343 residence hall/dormitory buildings in New York City, out of 48,310 buildings citywide. Rubin Hall's ENERGY STAR score of 80 compares with an average of 69 across the 177 that report a score; it scores higher than 56% of them and lower than 41%. Its site EUI of 31.3 kBtu/ft² is about 61% below the average of 79.6 kBtu/ft² — it uses less energy per square foot than the typical building in that group. Its emissions intensity of 3.6 kgCO₂e/ft² is about 35% below the group average of 5.5 kgCO₂e/ft².

At 163,451 sq ft, it is about twice the average floor area of 85,583 sq ft for those buildings. It was built in 1925, 21 years earlier than the group's average year built (1947). Across all 24 jurisdictions BuildingCensus covers, the 702 residence hall/dormitory buildings average an ENERGY STAR score of 70 and a site EUI of 70.7 kBtu/ft².

How has Rubin Hall's energy performance changed over time?

BuildingCensus holds 3 New York City disclosures for Rubin Hall, covering report years 2022–2024. Its ENERGY STAR score went from 61 in 2022 to 80 in 2024 (+19 points); its best year on file was 2023, at 91. Site EUI moved from 88.8 kBtu/ft² (2022) to 31.3 kBtu/ft² (2024), a 65% decrease. Reported emissions went from 1,061 tCO₂e to 587 tCO₂e over the same span (down 45%).

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. Rubin Hall's 31.3 kBtu/ft² across 163,451 sq ft works out to about 5.1 billion Btu (1,499 MWh-equivalent) in 2024. Its source EUI of 87.4 kBtu/ft² also counts the energy lost generating and delivering that power, which is why it is higher. The disclosure also reports 1,490,936 kWh of electricity and 327 therms of natural gas for the year.

Which law requires Rubin Hall to report its energy use?

Rubin Hall 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:2826033:2024). 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.