1528 Walnut

How does 1528 Walnut compare with other office buildings in Philadelphia?

The latest disclosures cover 212 office buildings in Philadelphia, out of 2,379 buildings citywide. 1528 Walnut's ENERGY STAR score of 43 compares with an average of 64 across the 180 that report a score; it scores higher than 16% of them and lower than 83%. Its site EUI of 69.8 kBtu/ft² is about 11% below the average of 78.3 kBtu/ft² — it uses less energy per square foot than the typical building in that group.

At 206,625 sq ft, it is about 29% below the average floor area of 292,223 sq ft for those buildings. It was built in 1927, 30 years earlier than the group's average year built (1957). Across all 24 jurisdictions BuildingCensus covers, the 15,264 office buildings average an ENERGY STAR score of 73 and a site EUI of 59.3 kBtu/ft².

How has 1528 Walnut's energy performance changed over time?

BuildingCensus holds 4 Philadelphia disclosures for 1528 Walnut, covering report years 2019–2022. Its ENERGY STAR score went from 48 in 2019 to 43 in 2022 (-5 points); its best year on file was 2019, at 48. Site EUI moved from 67.1 kBtu/ft² (2019) to 69.8 kBtu/ft² (2022), an 4% increase. Reported emissions went from 1,338 tCO₂e to 1,231 tCO₂e over the same span (down 8%).

What does an ENERGY STAR score of 43 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 43 means the building performs better than about 43% of its national peers. BuildingCensus bands the score into report-card grades; 43 falls in band D — lowest band (1–54). It sits 32 points below 75, the threshold for ENERGY STAR certification. In Philadelphia, 35% 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. 1528 Walnut's 69.8 kBtu/ft² across 206,625 sq ft works out to about 14.4 billion Btu (4,227 MWh-equivalent) in 2022. Its source EUI of 174.0 kBtu/ft² also counts the energy lost generating and delivering that power, which is why it is higher. The disclosure also reports 3,410,739 kWh of electricity, 0 therms of natural gas and 4,226 thousand gallons of water for the year.

Which law requires 1528 Walnut to report its energy use?

1528 Walnut reports under Phila. Code §9-3402 / Building Energy Performance Program, the legal basis of Philadelphia's Building Energy Benchmarking program, which publishes each covered building's annual benchmarking results. The record shown here is the report-year 2022 disclosure (source record philadelphia:3663168:2022). Philadelphia requires commercial and multifamily buildings of 50,000+ sq ft to benchmark annually; its Building Energy Performance Program additionally requires non-residential buildings of 50,000+ sq ft to complete a tune-up or certify as high-performance every five years, with fines starting at $2,000 for non-compliance.