438 O'FARRELL ST

How does 438 O'FARRELL ST 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. 438 O'FARRELL ST's ENERGY STAR score of 84 compares with an average of 78 across the 790 that report a score; it scores higher than 46% of them and lower than 52%. Its site EUI of 47.6 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 10,500 sq ft, it is about 90% below the average floor area of 107,408 sq ft for those buildings. It was built in 1910, 31 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.

What does an ENERGY STAR score of 84 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 84 means the building performs better than about 84% of its national peers. BuildingCensus bands the score into report-card grades; 84 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. 438 O'FARRELL ST's 47.6 kBtu/ft² across 10,500 sq ft works out to about 0.5 billion Btu (146 MWh-equivalent) in 2025. Its source EUI of 85.6 kBtu/ft² also counts the energy lost generating and delivering that power, which is why it is higher. The disclosure also reports 62,618 kWh of electricity and 2,864 therms of natural gas for the year.

Which law requires 438 O'FARRELL ST to report its energy use?

438 O'FARRELL ST 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:0317/006:2025). San Francisco's ordinance requires annual benchmarking for commercial buildings over 10,000 sq ft, with administrative penalties for buildings that fail to report.