Blow Pierce

How does Blow Pierce compare with other K-12 school buildings in Washington, DC?

The latest disclosures cover 333 K-12 school buildings in Washington, DC, out of 6,870 buildings citywide. Blow Pierce's ENERGY STAR score of 26 compares with an average of 44 across the 304 that report a score; it scores higher than 28% of them and lower than 71%. Its site EUI of 99.0 kBtu/ft² is about 54% above the average of 64.1 kBtu/ft² — it uses more energy per square foot than the typical building in that group. Its emissions intensity of 5.4 kgCO₂e/ft² is about 13% above the group average of 4.8 kgCO₂e/ft².

At 52,994 sq ft, it is about half of the average floor area of 105,946 sq ft for those buildings. It was built in 1906, 43 years earlier than the group's average year built (1949). 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 Blow Pierce's energy performance changed over time?

BuildingCensus holds 6 Washington, DC disclosures for Blow Pierce, covering report years 2018–2023. Its ENERGY STAR score went from 15 in 2018 to 26 in 2023 (+11 points); its best year on file was 2020, at 44. Site EUI moved from 100.6 kBtu/ft² (2018) to 99.0 kBtu/ft² (2023), a 2% decrease. Reported emissions went from 366 tCO₂e to 288 tCO₂e over the same span (down 21%).

What does an ENERGY STAR score of 26 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 26 means the building performs better than about 26% of its national peers. BuildingCensus bands the score into report-card grades; 26 falls in band D — lowest band (1–54). It sits 49 points below 75, the threshold for ENERGY STAR certification. 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. Blow Pierce's 99.0 kBtu/ft² across 52,994 sq ft works out to about 5.2 billion Btu (1,538 MWh-equivalent) in 2023. Its source EUI of 165.4 kBtu/ft² also counts the energy lost generating and delivering that power, which is why it is higher. The disclosure also reports 551,097 kWh of electricity, 26,088 therms of natural gas and 1,292 thousand gallons of water for the year.

Which law requires Blow Pierce to report its energy use?

Blow Pierce 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 2023 disclosure (source record dc:PM4866570:2023). 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.