Kew Gardens

How does Kew Gardens 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. Kew Gardens's ENERGY STAR score of 64 compares with an average of 72 across the 1,618 that report a score; it scores higher than 31% of them and lower than 68%. Its site EUI of 60.7 kBtu/ft² is about 19% 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 3.8 kgCO₂e/ft² is roughly in line with the group average of 3.8 kgCO₂e/ft².

At 118,500 sq ft, it is about 13% below the average floor area of 136,346 sq ft for those buildings. It was built in 1924, 41 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 Kew Gardens's energy performance changed over time?

BuildingCensus holds 11 Washington, DC disclosures for Kew Gardens, covering report years 2014–2024. Its ENERGY STAR score went from 36 in 2014 to 64 in 2024 (+28 points); its best year on file was 2017, at 70. Site EUI moved from 89.3 kBtu/ft² (2014) to 60.7 kBtu/ft² (2024), a 32% decrease. Reported emissions went from 739 tCO₂e to 445 tCO₂e over the same span (down 40%).

What does an ENERGY STAR score of 64 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 64 means the building performs better than about 64% of its national peers. BuildingCensus bands the score into report-card grades; 64 falls in band C — below median (55–69). It sits 11 points below 75, the threshold for ENERGY STAR certification. 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. Kew Gardens's 60.7 kBtu/ft² across 118,500 sq ft works out to about 7.2 billion Btu (2,108 MWh-equivalent) in 2024. Its source EUI of 98.7 kBtu/ft² also counts the energy lost generating and delivering that power, which is why it is higher. The disclosure also reports 693,529 kWh of electricity, 48,304 therms of natural gas and 4,166 thousand gallons of water for the year.

Which law requires Kew Gardens to report its energy use?

Kew Gardens 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:PM3634687:2024). 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.