Julius Hobson Plaza

How does Julius Hobson Plaza 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. Julius Hobson Plaza's ENERGY STAR score of 89 compares with an average of 72 across the 1,618 that report a score; it scores higher than 68% of them and lower than 30%. Its site EUI of 33.9 kBtu/ft² is about 34% below the average of 51.1 kBtu/ft² — it uses less energy per square foot than the typical building in that group. Its emissions intensity of 2.6 kgCO₂e/ft² is about 32% below the group average of 3.8 kgCO₂e/ft².

At 90,951 sq ft, it is about 33% below the average floor area of 136,346 sq ft for those buildings. It was built in 1925, 40 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 Julius Hobson Plaza's energy performance changed over time?

BuildingCensus holds 12 Washington, DC disclosures for Julius Hobson Plaza, covering report years 2013–2024. Its ENERGY STAR score went from 36 in 2014 to 89 in 2024 (+53 points); its best year on file was 2023, at 91. Site EUI moved from 60.4 kBtu/ft² (2013) to 33.9 kBtu/ft² (2024), a 44% decrease. Reported emissions went from 417 tCO₂e to 236 tCO₂e over the same span (down 43%).

What does an ENERGY STAR score of 89 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 89 means the building performs better than about 89% of its national peers. BuildingCensus bands the score into report-card grades; 89 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. Julius Hobson Plaza's 33.9 kBtu/ft² across 90,951 sq ft works out to about 3.1 billion Btu (904 MWh-equivalent) in 2024. Its source EUI of 75.9 kBtu/ft² also counts the energy lost generating and delivering that power, which is why it is higher. The disclosure also reports 612,951 kWh of electricity, 9,953 therms of natural gas and 4,398 thousand gallons of water for the year.

Which law requires Julius Hobson Plaza to report its energy use?

Julius Hobson 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:PM3991655:2024). 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.