16 California Street (8 Cal)

How does 16 California Street (8 Cal) compare with other commercial buildings in San Francisco?

The latest disclosures cover 1,683 commercial buildings in San Francisco, out of 2,509 buildings citywide. 16 California Street (8 Cal)'s ENERGY STAR score of 77 compares with an average of 78 across the 790 that report a score; it scores higher than 34% of them and lower than 64%. Its site EUI of 47.0 kBtu/ft² is roughly in line with the average of 49.2 kBtu/ft² — it uses less energy per square foot than the typical building in that group. Its emissions intensity of 2.6 kgCO₂e/ft² is roughly in line with the group average of 2.7 kgCO₂e/ft².

At 38,597 sq ft, it is about 64% below the average floor area of 107,408 sq ft for those buildings. It was built in 1908, 33 years earlier than the group's average year built (1941). Across all 24 jurisdictions BuildingCensus covers, the 2,307 commercial buildings average an ENERGY STAR score of 76 and a site EUI of 51.3 kBtu/ft².

How has 16 California Street (8 Cal)'s energy performance changed over time?

BuildingCensus holds 15 San Francisco disclosures for 16 California Street (8 Cal), covering report years 2011–2025. Its ENERGY STAR score went from 85 in 2013 to 77 in 2025 (-8 points); its best year on file was 2013, at 85. Site EUI moved from 45.8 kBtu/ft² (2013) to 47.0 kBtu/ft² (2025), an 3% increase. Reported emissions went from 135 tCO₂e to 100 tCO₂e over the same span (down 26%).

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 San Francisco, 73% 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. 16 California Street (8 Cal)'s 47.0 kBtu/ft² across 38,597 sq ft works out to about 1.8 billion Btu (532 MWh-equivalent) in 2025. Its source EUI of 89.6 kBtu/ft² also counts the energy lost generating and delivering that power, which is why it is higher. The disclosure also reports 260,193 kWh of electricity and 9,244 therms of natural gas for the year.

Which law requires 16 California Street (8 Cal) to report its energy use?

16 California Street (8 Cal) reports under SF Environment Code Chapter 20, the legal basis of San Francisco's Existing Buildings Energy Performance Ordinance, which publishes each covered building's annual benchmarking results. The record shown here is the report-year 2025 disclosure (source record sf:0235/008:2025). San Francisco's ordinance requires annual benchmarking for commercial buildings over 10,000 sq ft, with administrative penalties for buildings that fail to report.