Western Union Building

How does Western Union Building compare with other multifamily housing buildings in Philadelphia?

The latest disclosures cover 768 multifamily housing buildings in Philadelphia, out of 2,379 buildings citywide. Western Union Building's ENERGY STAR score of 28 compares with an average of 59 across the 682 that report a score; it scores higher than 22% of them and lower than 77%. Its site EUI of 52.2 kBtu/ft² is roughly in line with the average of 55.6 kBtu/ft² — it uses less energy per square foot than the typical building in that group.

At 4,963 sq ft, it is about 96% below the average floor area of 125,469 sq ft for those buildings. It was built in 2007, 36 years later 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 Western Union Building's energy performance changed over time?

BuildingCensus holds 4 Philadelphia disclosures for Western Union Building, covering report years 2021–2024. Its ENERGY STAR score was 28 in both 2021 and 2024. Site EUI moved from 54.1 kBtu/ft² (2021) to 52.2 kBtu/ft² (2024), a 4% decrease. Reported emissions went from 827 tCO₂e to 777 tCO₂e over the same span (down 6%).

What does an ENERGY STAR score of 28 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 28 means the building performs better than about 28% of its national peers. BuildingCensus bands the score into report-card grades; 28 falls in band D — lowest band (1–54). It sits 47 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. Western Union Building's 52.2 kBtu/ft² across 4,963 sq ft works out to about 0.3 billion Btu (76 MWh-equivalent) in 2024. Its source EUI of 127.0 kBtu/ft² also counts the energy lost generating and delivering that power, which is why it is higher. The disclosure also reports 2,237,533 kWh of electricity, 20,203 therms of natural gas and 5,420 thousand gallons of water for the year.

Which law requires Western Union Building to report its energy use?

Western Union Building 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 2024 disclosure (source record philadelphia:21642096:2024). 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.