1152 15th Street (Columbia Center)

How does 1152 15th Street (Columbia Center) compare with other office buildings in Washington, DC?

The latest disclosures cover 899 office buildings in Washington, DC, out of 6,870 buildings citywide. 1152 15th Street (Columbia Center)'s ENERGY STAR score of 85 compares with an average of 70 across the 774 that report a score; it scores higher than 77% of them and lower than 19%. Its site EUI of 34.7 kBtu/ft² is about 38% below the average of 55.6 kBtu/ft² — it uses less energy per square foot than the typical building in that group. Its emissions intensity of 2.8 kgCO₂e/ft² is about 45% below the group average of 5.0 kgCO₂e/ft².

At 436,649 sq ft, it is about twice the average floor area of 216,135 sq ft for those buildings. It was built in 2007, 33 years later than the group's average year built (1974). Across all 24 jurisdictions BuildingCensus covers, the 15,264 office buildings average an ENERGY STAR score of 73 and a site EUI of 59.3 kBtu/ft².

How has 1152 15th Street (Columbia Center)'s energy performance changed over time?

BuildingCensus holds 13 Washington, DC disclosures for 1152 15th Street (Columbia Center), covering report years 2012–2024. Its ENERGY STAR score went from 82 in 2012 to 85 in 2024 (+3 points); its best year on file was 2017, at 88. Site EUI moved from 54.1 kBtu/ft² (2012) to 34.7 kBtu/ft² (2024), a 36% decrease. Reported emissions went from 2,975 tCO₂e to 1,207 tCO₂e over the same span (down 59%).

What does an ENERGY STAR score of 85 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 85 means the building performs better than about 85% of its national peers. BuildingCensus bands the score into report-card grades; 85 falls in band A — high performer (85–100). 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 Washington, DC, 47% 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. 1152 15th Street (Columbia Center)'s 34.7 kBtu/ft² across 436,649 sq ft works out to about 15.2 billion Btu (4,441 MWh-equivalent) in 2024. Its source EUI of 95.3 kBtu/ft² also counts the energy lost generating and delivering that power, which is why it is higher. The disclosure also reports 4,309,879 kWh of electricity, 0 therms of natural gas and 2,935 thousand gallons of water for the year.

Which law requires 1152 15th Street (Columbia Center) to report its energy use?

1152 15th Street (Columbia Center) reports under the Clean and Affordable Energy Act / BEPS, the legal basis of Washington, DC's Building Energy Benchmarking program, which publishes each covered building's annual benchmarking results. The record shown here is the report-year 2024 disclosure (source record dc:PM1675389:2024). DC's Building Energy Performance Standards (BEPS) require buildings below the performance standard to improve over compliance cycles (the first ends December 31, 2026; later cycles run five years), with penalties for buildings that fail to meet their pathway.