Van Asselt Elementary @ Aaa (Sps-District)

How does Van Asselt Elementary @ Aaa (Sps-District) compare with other K-12 school buildings in Seattle?

The latest disclosures cover 153 K-12 school buildings in Seattle, out of 3,871 buildings citywide. Van Asselt Elementary @ Aaa (Sps-District)'s ENERGY STAR score of 61 compares with an average of 71 across the 152 that report a score; it scores higher than 22% of them and lower than 76%. Its site EUI of 42.5 kBtu/ft² is about 11% above the average of 38.3 kBtu/ft² — it uses more energy per square foot than the typical building in that group. Its emissions intensity of 1.2 kgCO₂e/ft² is about 12% above the group average of 1.1 kgCO₂e/ft².

At 103,166 sq ft, it is about 30% above the average floor area of 79,329 sq ft for those buildings. It was built in 2000, 30 years later than the group's average year built (1970). Across all 24 jurisdictions BuildingCensus covers, the 6,548 K-12 school buildings average an ENERGY STAR score of 64 and a site EUI of 52.7 kBtu/ft².

How has Van Asselt Elementary @ Aaa (Sps-District)'s energy performance changed over time?

BuildingCensus holds 11 Seattle disclosures for Van Asselt Elementary @ Aaa (Sps-District), covering report years 2015–2025. Its ENERGY STAR score went from 89 in 2015 to 61 in 2025 (-28 points); its best year on file was 2017, at 90. Site EUI moved from 34.3 kBtu/ft² (2015) to 42.5 kBtu/ft² (2025), an 24% increase. Reported emissions went from 84 tCO₂e to 127 tCO₂e over the same span (up 51%).

What does an ENERGY STAR score of 61 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 61 means the building performs better than about 61% of its national peers. BuildingCensus bands the score into report-card grades; 61 falls in band C — below median (55–69). It sits 14 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. Van Asselt Elementary @ Aaa (Sps-District)'s 42.5 kBtu/ft² across 103,166 sq ft works out to about 4.4 billion Btu (1,285 MWh-equivalent) in 2025. Its source EUI of 82.3 kBtu/ft² also counts the energy lost generating and delivering that power, which is why it is higher. The disclosure also reports 649,992 kWh of electricity and 21,682 therms of natural gas for the year.

Which law requires Van Asselt Elementary @ Aaa (Sps-District) to report its energy use?

Van Asselt Elementary @ Aaa (Sps-District) 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:178:2025). 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.