Watt Dormitory

How does Watt Dormitory 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. Watt Dormitory's ENERGY STAR score of 49 compares with an average of 69 across the 177 that report a score; it scores higher than 16% of them and lower than 82%. Its site EUI of 100.2 kBtu/ft² is about 26% above the average of 79.6 kBtu/ft² — it uses more energy per square foot than the typical building in that group. Its emissions intensity of 6.2 kgCO₂e/ft² is about 12% above the group average of 5.5 kgCO₂e/ft².

At 50,443 sq ft, it is about 41% below the average floor area of 85,583 sq ft for those buildings. It was built in 1975, 29 years later 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 Watt Dormitory's energy performance changed over time?

BuildingCensus holds 3 New York City disclosures for Watt Dormitory, covering report years 2022–2024. Its ENERGY STAR score went from 48 in 2022 to 49 in 2024 (+1 points); its best year on file was 2023, at 55. Site EUI moved from 102.3 kBtu/ft² (2022) to 100.2 kBtu/ft² (2024), a 2% decrease. Reported emissions went from 262 tCO₂e to 311 tCO₂e over the same span (up 19%).

What does an ENERGY STAR score of 49 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 49 means the building performs better than about 49% of its national peers. BuildingCensus bands the score into report-card grades; 49 falls in band D — lowest band (1–54). It sits 26 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. Watt Dormitory's 100.2 kBtu/ft² across 50,443 sq ft works out to about 5.1 billion Btu (1,481 MWh-equivalent) in 2024. Its source EUI of 129.0 kBtu/ft² also counts the energy lost generating and delivering that power, which is why it is higher. The disclosure also reports 200,539 kWh of electricity, 43,708 therms of natural gas and 3,165 thousand gallons of water for the year.

Which law requires Watt Dormitory to report its energy use?

Watt Dormitory 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:2646973:2024). 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.