Georgetown Plaza

How does Georgetown Plaza compare with other office buildings in Washington, DC?

The latest disclosures cover 899 office buildings in Washington, DC, out of 6,870 buildings citywide. Georgetown Plaza's ENERGY STAR score of 90 compares with an average of 70 across the 774 that report a score; it scores higher than 89% of them and lower than 9%. Its site EUI of 46.6 kBtu/ft² is about 16% 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 24% below the group average of 5.0 kgCO₂e/ft².

At 158,762 sq ft, it is about 27% below the average floor area of 216,135 sq ft for those buildings. It was built in 1964, 10 years earlier 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 Georgetown Plaza's energy performance changed over time?

BuildingCensus holds 9 Washington, DC disclosures for Georgetown Plaza, covering report years 2016–2024. Its ENERGY STAR score went from 85 in 2016 to 90 in 2024 (+5 points). Site EUI moved from 58.4 kBtu/ft² (2016) to 46.6 kBtu/ft² (2024), a 20% decrease. Reported emissions went from 734 tCO₂e to 605 tCO₂e over the same span (down 18%).

What does an ENERGY STAR score of 90 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 90 means the building performs better than about 90% of its national peers. BuildingCensus bands the score into report-card grades; 90 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. Georgetown Plaza's 46.6 kBtu/ft² across 158,762 sq ft works out to about 7.4 billion Btu (2,168 MWh-equivalent) in 2024. Its source EUI of 116.2 kBtu/ft² also counts the energy lost generating and delivering that power, which is why it is higher. The disclosure also reports 1,788,891 kWh of electricity, 12,969 therms of natural gas and 2,392 thousand gallons of water for the year.

Which law requires Georgetown Plaza to report its energy use?

Georgetown Plaza 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:PM2275407:2024). 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.