The Brighton Condominium

How does The Brighton Condominium 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. The Brighton Condominium's ENERGY STAR score of 78 compares with an average of 72 across the 1,618 that report a score; it scores higher than 49% of them and lower than 50%. Its site EUI of 56.1 kBtu/ft² is roughly in line with the average of 51.1 kBtu/ft². Its emissions intensity of 3.6 kgCO₂e/ft² is roughly in line with the group average of 3.8 kgCO₂e/ft².

At 85,903 sq ft, it is about 37% below the average floor area of 136,346 sq ft for those buildings. It was built in 1911, 54 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 The Brighton Condominium's energy performance changed over time?

BuildingCensus holds 6 Washington, DC disclosures for The Brighton Condominium, covering report years 2019–2024. Its ENERGY STAR score went from 74 in 2019 to 78 in 2024 (+4 points); its best year on file was 2020, at 78. Site EUI moved from 61.4 kBtu/ft² (2019) to 56.1 kBtu/ft² (2024), a 9% decrease. Reported emissions went from 346 tCO₂e to 311 tCO₂e over the same span (down 10%).

What does an ENERGY STAR score of 78 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 78 means the building performs better than about 78% of its national peers. BuildingCensus bands the score into report-card grades; 78 falls in band B — above median (70–84). 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. The Brighton Condominium's 56.1 kBtu/ft² across 85,903 sq ft works out to about 4.8 billion Btu (1,412 MWh-equivalent) in 2024. Its source EUI of 91.1 kBtu/ft² also counts the energy lost generating and delivering that power, which is why it is higher. The disclosure also reports 464,050 kWh of electricity, 32,339 therms of natural gas and 2,811 thousand gallons of water for the year.

Which law requires The Brighton Condominium to report its energy use?

The Brighton Condominium 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:PM14009908:2024). 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.