Vermont Avenue Baptist Church

How does Vermont Avenue Baptist Church compare with other worship facility buildings in Washington, DC?

The latest disclosures cover 88 worship facility buildings in Washington, DC, out of 6,870 buildings citywide. Vermont Avenue Baptist Church's ENERGY STAR score of 40 compares with an average of 43 across the 72 that report a score; it scores higher than 50% of them and lower than 44%. Its site EUI of 41.0 kBtu/ft² is about 21% below the average of 51.9 kBtu/ft² — it uses less energy per square foot than the typical building in that group. Its emissions intensity of 3.0 kgCO₂e/ft² is about 17% below the group average of 3.6 kgCO₂e/ft².

At 73,346 sq ft, it is about 49% above the average floor area of 49,290 sq ft for those buildings. Across all 24 jurisdictions BuildingCensus covers, the 1,035 worship facility buildings average an ENERGY STAR score of 50 and a site EUI of 47.8 kBtu/ft².

How has Vermont Avenue Baptist Church's energy performance changed over time?

BuildingCensus holds 8 Washington, DC disclosures for Vermont Avenue Baptist Church, covering report years 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2022, 2023, 2024. Its ENERGY STAR score went from 37 in 2013 to 40 in 2024 (+3 points); its best year on file was 2022, at 42. Site EUI moved from 56.7 kBtu/ft² (2013) to 41.0 kBtu/ft² (2024), a 28% decrease. Reported emissions went from 375 tCO₂e to 219 tCO₂e over the same span (down 42%).

What does an ENERGY STAR score of 40 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 40 means the building performs better than about 40% of its national peers. BuildingCensus bands the score into report-card grades; 40 falls in band D — lowest band (1–54). It sits 35 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. Vermont Avenue Baptist Church's 41.0 kBtu/ft² across 73,346 sq ft works out to about 3 billion Btu (881 MWh-equivalent) in 2024. Its source EUI of 77.9 kBtu/ft² also counts the energy lost generating and delivering that power, which is why it is higher. The disclosure also reports 430,222 kWh of electricity, 12,889 therms of natural gas and 52 thousand gallons of water for the year.

Which law requires Vermont Avenue Baptist Church to report its energy use?

Vermont Avenue Baptist Church 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:PM4000077:2024). 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.