Whole Foods Market

How does Whole Foods Market 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. Whole Foods Market's ENERGY STAR score of 65 compares with an average of 78 across the 790 that report a score; it scores higher than 20% of them and lower than 78%. Its site EUI of 269.4 kBtu/ft² is about 448% above the average of 49.2 kBtu/ft² — it uses more energy per square foot than the typical building in that group. Its emissions intensity of 15.0 kgCO₂e/ft² is about 457% above the group average of 2.7 kgCO₂e/ft².

At 72,621 sq ft, it is about 32% below the average floor area of 107,408 sq ft for those buildings. It was built in 1900, 41 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.

How has Whole Foods Market's energy performance changed over time?

BuildingCensus holds 15 San Francisco disclosures for Whole Foods Market, covering report years 2011–2025. Its ENERGY STAR score went from 11 in 2012 to 65 in 2025 (+54 points); its best year on file was 2019, at 74. Site EUI moved from 454.8 kBtu/ft² (2011) to 269.4 kBtu/ft² (2025), a 41% decrease. Reported emissions went from 942 tCO₂e to 529 tCO₂e over the same span (down 44%).

What does an ENERGY STAR score of 65 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 65 means the building performs better than about 65% of its national peers. BuildingCensus bands the score into report-card grades; 65 falls in band C — below median (55–69). It sits 10 points below 75, the threshold for ENERGY STAR certification. 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. Whole Foods Market's 269.4 kBtu/ft² across 72,621 sq ft works out to about 19.6 billion Btu (5,734 MWh-equivalent) in 2025. Its source EUI of 598.7 kBtu/ft² also counts the energy lost generating and delivering that power, which is why it is higher. The disclosure also reports 1,861,568 kWh of electricity and 31,299 therms of natural gas for the year.

Which law requires Whole Foods Market to report its energy use?

Whole Foods Market 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:0647/012:2025). San Francisco's ordinance requires annual benchmarking for commercial buildings over 10,000 sq ft, with administrative penalties for buildings that fail to report.