HQ Apartments

How does HQ Apartments compare with other multifamily buildings in San Francisco?

The latest disclosures cover 192 multifamily buildings in San Francisco, out of 2,509 buildings citywide. HQ Apartments's ENERGY STAR score of 78 compares with an average of 86 across the 129 that report a score; it scores higher than 19% of them and lower than 78%. Its site EUI of 56.4 kBtu/ft² is about 62% above the average of 34.9 kBtu/ft² — it uses more energy per square foot than the typical building in that group. Its emissions intensity of 3.1 kgCO₂e/ft² is about 62% above the group average of 1.9 kgCO₂e/ft².

At 95,224 sq ft, it is about half of the average floor area of 191,699 sq ft for those buildings. Across all 24 jurisdictions BuildingCensus covers, the 238 multifamily buildings average an ENERGY STAR score of 86 and a site EUI of 34.8 kBtu/ft².

How has HQ Apartments's energy performance changed over time?

BuildingCensus holds 4 San Francisco disclosures for HQ Apartments, covering report years 2022–2025. Its ENERGY STAR score went from 100 in 2022 to 78 in 2025 (-22 points); its best year on file was 2022, at 100. Site EUI moved from 36.7 kBtu/ft² (2022) to 56.4 kBtu/ft² (2025), an 54% increase. Reported emissions went from 167 tCO₂e to 251 tCO₂e over the same span (up 51%).

What does an ENERGY STAR score of 78 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 78 means the building performs better than about 78% of its national peers. BuildingCensus bands the score into report-card grades; 78 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. HQ Apartments's 56.4 kBtu/ft² across 95,224 sq ft works out to about 5.4 billion Btu (1,574 MWh-equivalent) in 2025. Its source EUI of 96.6 kBtu/ft² also counts the energy lost generating and delivering that power, which is why it is higher. The disclosure also reports 510,519 kWh of electricity and 28,522 therms of natural gas for the year.

Which law requires HQ Apartments to report its energy use?

HQ Apartments 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:3521/297:2025). San Francisco's ordinance requires annual benchmarking for commercial buildings over 10,000 sq ft, with administrative penalties for buildings that fail to report.