Empress Senior Living At Laurelhurst

How does Empress Senior Living At Laurelhurst compare with other senior living community buildings in Seattle?

The latest disclosures cover 48 senior living community buildings in Seattle, out of 3,871 buildings citywide. Empress Senior Living At Laurelhurst's ENERGY STAR score of 78 compares with an average of 72 across the 40 that report a score; it scores higher than 45% of them and lower than 50%. Its site EUI of 67.5 kBtu/ft² is roughly in line with the average of 66.7 kBtu/ft². Its emissions intensity of 2.2 kgCO₂e/ft² is about 28% above the group average of 1.7 kgCO₂e/ft².

At 64,823 sq ft, it is about half of the average floor area of 136,458 sq ft for those buildings. It was built in 2021, 30 years later than the group's average year built (1991). Across all 24 jurisdictions BuildingCensus covers, the 1,181 senior living community buildings average an ENERGY STAR score of 71 and a site EUI of 73.6 kBtu/ft².

How has Empress Senior Living At Laurelhurst's energy performance changed over time?

BuildingCensus holds 3 Seattle disclosures for Empress Senior Living At Laurelhurst, covering report years 2023–2025. Its ENERGY STAR score went from 59 in 2023 to 78 in 2025 (+19 points). Site EUI moved from 71.4 kBtu/ft² (2023) to 67.5 kBtu/ft² (2025), a 5% decrease. Reported emissions went from 137 tCO₂e to 120 tCO₂e over the same span (down 12%).

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 Seattle, 69% 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. Empress Senior Living At Laurelhurst's 67.5 kBtu/ft² across 64,823 sq ft works out to about 4.4 billion Btu (1,282 MWh-equivalent) in 2025. Its source EUI of 122.1 kBtu/ft² also counts the energy lost generating and delivering that power, which is why it is higher. The disclosure also reports 472,954 kWh of electricity and 21,129 therms of natural gas for the year.

Which law requires Empress Senior Living At Laurelhurst to report its energy use?

Empress Senior Living At Laurelhurst reports under the Seattle Energy Benchmarking Ordinance (SMC 22.920), the legal basis of Seattle's Building Energy Benchmarking program, which publishes each covered building's annual benchmarking results. The record shown here is the report-year 2025 disclosure (source record seattle:50919:2025). Seattle's Building Emissions Performance Standard (adopted 2023) applies to buildings over 20,000 sq ft: benchmarking verification is due 2027–2030 and initial emissions targets 2031–2035, reaching net zero by 2041–2050, with fines for non-compliance.