Green Building

How does Green Building 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. Green Building's ENERGY STAR score of 85 compares with an average of 44 across the 304 that report a score; it scores higher than 90% of them and lower than 9%. Its site EUI of 35.7 kBtu/ft² is about 44% below the average of 64.1 kBtu/ft² — it uses less energy per square foot than the typical building in that group. Its emissions intensity of 3.1 kgCO₂e/ft² is about 35% below the group average of 4.8 kgCO₂e/ft².

At 111,600 sq ft, it is roughly in line with the average floor area of 105,946 sq ft for those buildings. It was built in 1959, 10 years later 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 Green Building's energy performance changed over time?

BuildingCensus holds 7 Washington, DC disclosures for Green Building, covering report years 2014–2020. Its ENERGY STAR score went from 62 in 2016 to 85 in 2020 (+23 points); its best year on file was 2019, at 85. Site EUI moved from 60.4 kBtu/ft² (2014) to 35.7 kBtu/ft² (2020), a 41% decrease. Reported emissions went from 707 tCO₂e to 350 tCO₂e over the same span (down 50%).

What does an ENERGY STAR score of 85 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 85 means the building performs better than about 85% of its national peers. BuildingCensus bands the score into report-card grades; 85 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. Green Building's 35.7 kBtu/ft² across 111,600 sq ft works out to about 4 billion Btu (1,168 MWh-equivalent) in 2020. Its source EUI of 82.5 kBtu/ft² also counts the energy lost generating and delivering that power, which is why it is higher. The disclosure also reports 841,649 kWh of electricity, 11,150 therms of natural gas and 60 thousand gallons of water for the year.

Which law requires Green Building to report its energy use?

Green Building 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 2020 disclosure (source record dc:PM4629979:2020). 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.