Gateway Towers

How does Gateway Towers compare with other multifamily housing buildings in Philadelphia?

The latest disclosures cover 768 multifamily housing buildings in Philadelphia, out of 2,379 buildings citywide. Gateway Towers's ENERGY STAR score of 77 compares with an average of 59 across the 682 that report a score; it scores higher than 62% of them and lower than 37%. Its site EUI of 58.1 kBtu/ft² is roughly in line with the average of 55.6 kBtu/ft².

It was built in 1967, 4 years earlier than the group's average year built (1971). 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 Gateway Towers's energy performance changed over time?

BuildingCensus holds 4 Philadelphia disclosures for Gateway Towers, covering report years 2019, 2021, 2022, 2023. Its ENERGY STAR score went from 76 in 2019 to 77 in 2023 (+1 points); its best year on file was 2021, at 100. Site EUI moved from 64.9 kBtu/ft² (2019) to 58.1 kBtu/ft² (2023), a 10% decrease. Reported emissions went from 1,199 tCO₂e to 1,017 tCO₂e over the same span (down 15%).

What does an ENERGY STAR score of 77 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 77 means the building performs better than about 77% of its national peers. BuildingCensus bands the score into report-card grades; 77 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 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. Its source EUI of 99.8 kBtu/ft² also counts the energy lost generating and delivering that power, which is why it is higher. The disclosure also reports 1,712,694 kWh of electricity, 94,849 therms of natural gas and 17,186 thousand gallons of water for the year.

Which law requires Gateway Towers to report its energy use?

Gateway Towers 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 2023 disclosure (source record philadelphia:4457870:2023). 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.