425 California Street

How does 425 California Street 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. 425 California Street's ENERGY STAR score of 88 compares with an average of 78 across the 790 that report a score; it scores higher than 55% of them and lower than 42%. Its site EUI of 38.3 kBtu/ft² is about 22% below 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 2.1 kgCO₂e/ft² is about 21% below the group average of 2.7 kgCO₂e/ft².

At 211,344 sq ft, it is about twice the average floor area of 107,408 sq ft for those buildings. It was built in 1968, 27 years later 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 425 California Street's energy performance changed over time?

BuildingCensus holds 15 San Francisco disclosures for 425 California Street, covering report years 2011–2025. Its ENERGY STAR score went from 89 in 2011 to 88 in 2025 (-1 points); its best year on file was 2022, at 96. Site EUI moved from 62.1 kBtu/ft² (2011) to 38.3 kBtu/ft² (2025), a 38% decrease. Reported emissions went from 1,029 tCO₂e to 450 tCO₂e over the same span (down 56%).

What does an ENERGY STAR score of 88 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 88 means the building performs better than about 88% of its national peers. BuildingCensus bands the score into report-card grades; 88 falls in band A — high performer (85–100). 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. 425 California Street's 38.3 kBtu/ft² across 211,344 sq ft works out to about 8.1 billion Btu (2,372 MWh-equivalent) in 2025. Its source EUI of 80.4 kBtu/ft² also counts the energy lost generating and delivering that power, which is why it is higher. The disclosure also reports 1,422,517 kWh of electricity and 32,419 therms of natural gas for the year.

Which law requires 425 California Street to report its energy use?

425 California Street 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:0260/001:2025). San Francisco's ordinance requires annual benchmarking for commercial buildings over 10,000 sq ft, with administrative penalties for buildings that fail to report.