Potomac Park

How does Potomac Park 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. Potomac Park's ENERGY STAR score of 94 compares with an average of 72 across the 1,618 that report a score; it scores higher than 78% of them and lower than 18%. Its site EUI of 52.2 kBtu/ft² is roughly in line with the average of 51.1 kBtu/ft². Its emissions intensity of 3.4 kgCO₂e/ft² is about 12% below the group average of 3.8 kgCO₂e/ft².

At 103,790 sq ft, it is about 24% below the average floor area of 136,346 sq ft for those buildings. It was built in 1950, 15 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 Potomac Park's energy performance changed over time?

BuildingCensus holds 12 Washington, DC disclosures for Potomac Park, covering report years 2013–2024. Its ENERGY STAR score went from 75 in 2014 to 94 in 2024 (+19 points); its best year on file was 2023, at 96. Site EUI moved from 67.2 kBtu/ft² (2013) to 52.2 kBtu/ft² (2024), a 22% decrease. Reported emissions went from 561 tCO₂e to 348 tCO₂e over the same span (down 38%).

What does an ENERGY STAR score of 94 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 94 means the building performs better than about 94% of its national peers. BuildingCensus bands the score into report-card grades; 94 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. Potomac Park's 52.2 kBtu/ft² across 103,790 sq ft works out to about 5.4 billion Btu (1,588 MWh-equivalent) in 2024. Its source EUI of 84.0 kBtu/ft² also counts the energy lost generating and delivering that power, which is why it is higher. The disclosure also reports 507,523 kWh of electricity, 36,827 therms of natural gas and 3,286 thousand gallons of water for the year.

Which law requires Potomac Park to report its energy use?

Potomac Park 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:PM3505139:2024). 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.