The Dorchester

How does The Dorchester compare with other multifamily housing buildings in New York City?

The latest disclosures cover 33,022 multifamily housing buildings in New York City, out of 48,310 buildings citywide. The Dorchester's ENERGY STAR score of 91 compares with an average of 63 across the 22,829 that report a score; it scores higher than 78% of them and lower than 21%. Its site EUI of 62.9 kBtu/ft² is about 16% below the average of 74.9 kBtu/ft² — it uses less energy per square foot than the typical building in that group. Its emissions intensity of 5.0 kgCO₂e/ft² is roughly in line with the group average of 5.2 kgCO₂e/ft².

At 62,088 sq ft, it is about 38% below the average floor area of 100,951 sq ft for those buildings. It was built in 1940, 12 years earlier than the group's average year built (1952). Across all 24 jurisdictions BuildingCensus covers, the 59,945 multifamily housing buildings average an ENERGY STAR score of 70 and a site EUI of 59.0 kBtu/ft².

How has The Dorchester's energy performance changed over time?

BuildingCensus holds 2 New York City disclosures for The Dorchester, covering report years 2022–2023. Its ENERGY STAR score went from 100 in 2022 to 91 in 2023 (-9 points); its best year on file was 2022, at 100. Site EUI moved from 12.8 kBtu/ft² (2022) to 62.9 kBtu/ft² (2023), an 391% increase. Reported emissions went from 62 tCO₂e to 309 tCO₂e over the same span (up 399%).

What does an ENERGY STAR score of 91 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 91 means the building performs better than about 91% of its national peers. BuildingCensus bands the score into report-card grades; 91 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. The Dorchester's 62.9 kBtu/ft² across 62,088 sq ft works out to about 3.9 billion Btu (1,145 MWh-equivalent) in 2023. Its source EUI of 82.5 kBtu/ft² also counts the energy lost generating and delivering that power, which is why it is higher. The disclosure also reports 192,090 kWh of electricity, 1,546 therms of natural gas and 1,884 thousand gallons of water for the year.

Which law requires The Dorchester to report its energy use?

The Dorchester 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 2023 disclosure (source record nyc:2683168:2023). 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.