St Marks Cathedral

How does St Marks Cathedral compare with other worship facility buildings in Seattle?

The latest disclosures cover 67 worship facility buildings in Seattle, out of 3,871 buildings citywide. St Marks Cathedral's ENERGY STAR score of 31 compares with an average of 50 across the 52 that report a score; it scores higher than 23% of them and lower than 75%. Its site EUI of 81.9 kBtu/ft² is about twice the average of 38.1 kBtu/ft² — it uses more energy per square foot than the typical building in that group. Its emissions intensity of 3.5 kgCO₂e/ft² is about 146% above the group average of 1.4 kgCO₂e/ft².

At 37,700 sq ft, it is about 15% above the average floor area of 32,782 sq ft for those buildings. It was built in 1929, 19 years earlier than the group's average year built (1948). Across all 24 jurisdictions BuildingCensus covers, the 1,035 worship facility buildings average an ENERGY STAR score of 50 and a site EUI of 47.8 kBtu/ft².

How has St Marks Cathedral's energy performance changed over time?

BuildingCensus holds 11 Seattle disclosures for St Marks Cathedral, covering report years 2015–2025. Its ENERGY STAR score went from 41 in 2015 to 31 in 2025 (-10 points); its best year on file was 2020, at 58. Site EUI moved from 61.0 kBtu/ft² (2015) to 81.9 kBtu/ft² (2025), an 34% increase. Reported emissions went from 131 tCO₂e to 130 tCO₂e over the same span (down 1%).

What does an ENERGY STAR score of 31 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 31 means the building performs better than about 31% of its national peers. BuildingCensus bands the score into report-card grades; 31 falls in band D — lowest band (1–54). It sits 44 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. St Marks Cathedral's 81.9 kBtu/ft² across 37,700 sq ft works out to about 3.1 billion Btu (905 MWh-equivalent) in 2025. Its source EUI of 115.4 kBtu/ft² also counts the energy lost generating and delivering that power, which is why it is higher. The disclosure also reports 185,815 kWh of electricity and 24,537 therms of natural gas for the year.

Which law requires St Marks Cathedral to report its energy use?

St Marks Cathedral 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:27947:2025). 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.