Jefferson Court Apartments

How does Jefferson Court Apartments compare with other multifamily housing buildings in Seattle?

The latest disclosures cover 1,971 multifamily housing buildings in Seattle, out of 3,871 buildings citywide. Jefferson Court Apartments's ENERGY STAR score of 28 compares with an average of 83 across the 1,652 that report a score; it scores higher than 3% of them and lower than 97%. Its site EUI of 77.3 kBtu/ft² is about 121% 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 3.4 kgCO₂e/ft² is about 383% above the group average of 0.7 kgCO₂e/ft².

At 20,931 sq ft, it is about 76% below the average floor area of 86,468 sq ft for those buildings. It was built in 1962, 21 years earlier than the group's average year built (1983). Across all 24 jurisdictions BuildingCensus covers, the 59,945 multifamily housing buildings average an ENERGY STAR score of 70 and a site EUI of 59.0 kBtu/ft².

How has Jefferson Court Apartments's energy performance changed over time?

BuildingCensus holds 11 Seattle disclosures for Jefferson Court Apartments, covering report years 2015–2025. Its ENERGY STAR score was 28 in both 2015 and 2025. Site EUI moved from 78.0 kBtu/ft² (2015) to 77.3 kBtu/ft² (2025), a 1% decrease. Reported emissions went from 73 tCO₂e to 71 tCO₂e over the same span (down 3%).

What does an ENERGY STAR score of 28 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 28 means the building performs better than about 28% of its national peers. BuildingCensus bands the score into report-card grades; 28 falls in band D — lowest band (1–54). It sits 47 points below 75, the threshold for ENERGY STAR certification. 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. Jefferson Court Apartments's 77.3 kBtu/ft² across 20,931 sq ft works out to about 1.6 billion Btu (474 MWh-equivalent) in 2025. Its source EUI of 102.8 kBtu/ft² also counts the energy lost generating and delivering that power, which is why it is higher. The disclosure also reports 76,101 kWh of electricity and 13,575 therms of natural gas for the year.

Which law requires Jefferson Court Apartments to report its energy use?

Jefferson Court Apartments 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:24363:2025). 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.