Franklin Court

How does Franklin Court compare with other office buildings in Washington, DC?

The latest disclosures cover 899 office buildings in Washington, DC, out of 6,870 buildings citywide. Franklin Court's ENERGY STAR score of 79 compares with an average of 70 across the 774 that report a score; it scores higher than 59% of them and lower than 37%. Its site EUI of 43.0 kBtu/ft² is about 23% 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 3.8 kgCO₂e/ft² is about 25% below the group average of 5.0 kgCO₂e/ft².

At 508,315 sq ft, it is about 135% above the average floor area of 216,135 sq ft for those buildings. It was built in 1991, 17 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 Franklin Court's energy performance changed over time?

BuildingCensus holds 13 Washington, DC disclosures for Franklin Court, covering report years 2012–2024. Its ENERGY STAR score went from 78 in 2012 to 79 in 2024 (+1 points); its best year on file was 2016, at 92. Site EUI moved from 60.6 kBtu/ft² (2012) to 43.0 kBtu/ft² (2024), a 29% decrease. Reported emissions went from 3,892 tCO₂e to 1,910 tCO₂e over the same span (down 51%).

What does an ENERGY STAR score of 79 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 79 means the building performs better than about 79% of its national peers. BuildingCensus bands the score into report-card grades; 79 falls in band B — above median (70–84). 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. Franklin Court's 43.0 kBtu/ft² across 508,315 sq ft works out to about 21.9 billion Btu (6,406 MWh-equivalent) in 2024. Its source EUI of 119.7 kBtu/ft² also counts the energy lost generating and delivering that power, which is why it is higher. The disclosure also reports 6,348,397 kWh of electricity, 1,739 therms of natural gas and 3,928 thousand gallons of water for the year.

Which law requires Franklin Court to report its energy use?

Franklin Court 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:PM1347006:2024). 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.