The Orrick Building

How does The Orrick Building 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. The Orrick Building's ENERGY STAR score of 96 compares with an average of 78 across the 790 that report a score; it scores higher than 76% of them and lower than 21%. Its site EUI of 22.2 kBtu/ft² is about half of 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 1.3 kgCO₂e/ft² is about half of the group average of 2.7 kgCO₂e/ft².

At 647,908 sq ft, it is about 503% 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 The Orrick Building's energy performance changed over time?

BuildingCensus holds 15 San Francisco disclosures for The Orrick Building, covering report years 2011–2025. Its ENERGY STAR score went from 92 in 2011 to 96 in 2025 (+4 points); its best year on file was 2015, at 97. Site EUI moved from 51.0 kBtu/ft² (2011) to 22.2 kBtu/ft² (2025), a 56% decrease. Reported emissions went from 2,321 tCO₂e to 741 tCO₂e over the same span (down 68%).

What does an ENERGY STAR score of 96 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 96 means the building performs better than about 96% of its national peers. BuildingCensus bands the score into report-card grades; 96 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. The Orrick Building's 22.2 kBtu/ft² across 647,908 sq ft works out to about 14.4 billion Btu (4,215 MWh-equivalent) in 2025. Its source EUI of 62.0 kBtu/ft² also counts the energy lost generating and delivering that power, which is why it is higher. The disclosure also reports 3,798,610 kWh of electricity for the year.

Which law requires The Orrick Building to report its energy use?

The Orrick Building 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:3737/030:2025). San Francisco's ordinance requires annual benchmarking for commercial buildings over 10,000 sq ft, with administrative penalties for buildings that fail to report.