Garfield House

How does Garfield House 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. Garfield House's ENERGY STAR score of 81 compares with an average of 72 across the 1,618 that report a score; it scores higher than 53% of them and lower than 46%. Its site EUI of 61.8 kBtu/ft² is about 21% 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 4.0 kgCO₂e/ft² is roughly in line with the group average of 3.8 kgCO₂e/ft².

At 77,242 sq ft, it is about 43% below the average floor area of 136,346 sq ft for those buildings. Its 1964 construction date is close to 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 Garfield House's energy performance changed over time?

BuildingCensus holds 12 Washington, DC disclosures for Garfield House, covering report years 2013–2024. Its ENERGY STAR score went from 55 in 2014 to 81 in 2024 (+26 points); its best year on file was 2023, at 81. Site EUI moved from 51.5 kBtu/ft² (2013) to 61.8 kBtu/ft² (2024), an 20% increase. Reported emissions went from 253 tCO₂e to 311 tCO₂e over the same span (up 23%).

What does an ENERGY STAR score of 81 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 81 means the building performs better than about 81% of its national peers. BuildingCensus bands the score into report-card grades; 81 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. Garfield House's 61.8 kBtu/ft² across 77,242 sq ft works out to about 4.8 billion Btu (1,399 MWh-equivalent) in 2024. Its source EUI of 102.8 kBtu/ft² also counts the energy lost generating and delivering that power, which is why it is higher. The disclosure also reports 489,892 kWh of electricity, 31,022 therms of natural gas and 3,865 thousand gallons of water for the year.

Which law requires Garfield House to report its energy use?

Garfield House 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:PM3075466:2024). 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.