Merrill Gardens - Faerland Terrace

How does Merrill Gardens - Faerland Terrace 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. Merrill Gardens - Faerland Terrace's ENERGY STAR score of 9 compares with an average of 72 across the 40 that report a score; it scores higher than 3% of them and lower than 95%. Its site EUI of 60.2 kBtu/ft² is roughly in line with the average of 66.7 kBtu/ft² — it uses less energy per square foot than the typical building in that group. Its emissions intensity of 1.4 kgCO₂e/ft² is about 19% below the group average of 1.7 kgCO₂e/ft².

At 95,117 sq ft, it is about 30% below the average floor area of 136,458 sq ft for those buildings. It was built in 1969, 22 years earlier 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 Merrill Gardens - Faerland Terrace's energy performance changed over time?

BuildingCensus holds 11 Seattle disclosures for Merrill Gardens - Faerland Terrace, covering report years 2015–2025. Its ENERGY STAR score went from 1 in 2015 to 9 in 2025 (+8 points); its best year on file was 2022, at 9. Site EUI moved from 106.8 kBtu/ft² (2015) to 60.2 kBtu/ft² (2025), a 44% decrease. Reported emissions went from 187 tCO₂e to 141 tCO₂e over the same span (down 25%).

What does an ENERGY STAR score of 9 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 9 means the building performs better than about 9% of its national peers. BuildingCensus bands the score into report-card grades; 9 falls in band D — lowest band (1–54). It sits 66 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. Merrill Gardens - Faerland Terrace's 60.2 kBtu/ft² across 95,117 sq ft works out to about 5.7 billion Btu (1,678 MWh-equivalent) in 2025. Its source EUI of 129.4 kBtu/ft² also counts the energy lost generating and delivering that power, which is why it is higher. The disclosure also reports 1,128,295 kWh of electricity and 22,713 therms of natural gas for the year.

Which law requires Merrill Gardens - Faerland Terrace to report its energy use?

Merrill Gardens - Faerland Terrace 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:25737:2025). 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.