Columbia Uptown

How does Columbia Uptown compare with other multifamily housing buildings in Washington, DC?

The latest disclosures cover 1,799 multifamily housing buildings in Washington, DC, out of 6,870 buildings citywide. Columbia Uptown's ENERGY STAR score of 58 compares with an average of 72 across the 1,618 that report a score; it scores higher than 25% of them and lower than 74%. Its site EUI of 58.4 kBtu/ft² is about 14% above the average of 51.1 kBtu/ft² — it uses more energy per square foot than the typical building in that group. Its emissions intensity of 4.9 kgCO₂e/ft² is about 30% above the group average of 3.8 kgCO₂e/ft².

At 88,913 sq ft, it is about 35% below the average floor area of 136,346 sq ft for those buildings. It was built in 1950, 15 years earlier than the group's average year built (1965). Across all 24 jurisdictions BuildingCensus covers, the 59,945 multifamily housing buildings average an ENERGY STAR score of 70 and a site EUI of 59.0 kBtu/ft².

How has Columbia Uptown's energy performance changed over time?

BuildingCensus holds 10 Washington, DC disclosures for Columbia Uptown, covering report years 2015–2024. Its ENERGY STAR score went from 37 in 2015 to 58 in 2024 (+21 points); its best year on file was 2017, at 92. Site EUI moved from 48.5 kBtu/ft² (2015) to 58.4 kBtu/ft² (2024), an 20% increase. Reported emissions went from 577 tCO₂e to 438 tCO₂e over the same span (down 24%).

What does an ENERGY STAR score of 58 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 58 means the building performs better than about 58% of its national peers. BuildingCensus bands the score into report-card grades; 58 falls in band C — below median (55–69). It sits 17 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. Columbia Uptown's 58.4 kBtu/ft² across 88,913 sq ft works out to about 5.2 billion Btu (1,522 MWh-equivalent) in 2024. Its source EUI of 153.7 kBtu/ft² also counts the energy lost generating and delivering that power, which is why it is higher. The disclosure also reports 1,374,540 kWh of electricity, 5,060 therms of natural gas and 5,027 thousand gallons of water for the year.

Which law requires Columbia Uptown to report its energy use?

Columbia Uptown 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:PM4900810:2024). 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.