500 Howard Street (Foundry Square IV)

How does 500 Howard Street (Foundry Square IV) 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. 500 Howard Street (Foundry Square IV)'s ENERGY STAR score of 76 compares with an average of 78 across the 790 that report a score; it scores higher than 32% of them and lower than 66%. Its site EUI of 43.3 kBtu/ft² is about 12% 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 2.5 kgCO₂e/ft² is roughly in line with the group average of 2.7 kgCO₂e/ft².

At 280,909 sq ft, it is about 162% above the average floor area of 107,408 sq ft for those buildings. It was built in 2003, 62 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 500 Howard Street (Foundry Square IV)'s energy performance changed over time?

BuildingCensus holds 15 San Francisco disclosures for 500 Howard Street (Foundry Square IV), covering report years 2011–2025. Its ENERGY STAR score went from 84 in 2011 to 76 in 2025 (-8 points); its best year on file was 2016, at 100. Site EUI moved from 56.9 kBtu/ft² (2011) to 43.3 kBtu/ft² (2025), a 24% decrease. Reported emissions went from 1,281 tCO₂e to 620 tCO₂e over the same span (down 52%).

What does an ENERGY STAR score of 76 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 76 means the building performs better than about 76% of its national peers. BuildingCensus bands the score into report-card grades; 76 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. 500 Howard Street (Foundry Square IV)'s 43.3 kBtu/ft² across 280,909 sq ft works out to about 12.2 billion Btu (3,565 MWh-equivalent) in 2025. Its source EUI of 121.3 kBtu/ft² also counts the energy lost generating and delivering that power, which is why it is higher. The disclosure also reports 3,179,088 kWh of electricity for the year.

Which law requires 500 Howard Street (Foundry Square IV) to report its energy use?

500 Howard Street (Foundry Square IV) 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:3721/119:2025). San Francisco's ordinance requires annual benchmarking for commercial buildings over 10,000 sq ft, with administrative penalties for buildings that fail to report.