Wardman Tower

How does Wardman Tower 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. Wardman Tower's ENERGY STAR score of 88 compares with an average of 72 across the 1,618 that report a score; it scores higher than 65% of them and lower than 32%. Its site EUI of 35.4 kBtu/ft² is about 31% 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 3.1 kgCO₂e/ft² is about 18% below the group average of 3.8 kgCO₂e/ft².

At 149,614 sq ft, it is roughly in line with the average floor area of 136,346 sq ft for those buildings. It was built in 1928, 37 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 Wardman Tower's energy performance changed over time?

BuildingCensus holds 3 Washington, DC disclosures for Wardman Tower, covering report years 2018–2020. Its ENERGY STAR score was 88 in both 2018 and 2020. Site EUI moved from 37.9 kBtu/ft² (2018) to 35.4 kBtu/ft² (2020), a 7% decrease. Reported emissions went from 489 tCO₂e to 458 tCO₂e over the same span (down 6%).

What does an ENERGY STAR score of 88 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 88 means the building performs better than about 88% of its national peers. BuildingCensus bands the score into report-card grades; 88 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. Wardman Tower's 35.4 kBtu/ft² across 149,614 sq ft works out to about 5.3 billion Btu (1,552 MWh-equivalent) in 2020. Its source EUI of 85.7 kBtu/ft² also counts the energy lost generating and delivering that power, which is why it is higher. The disclosure also reports 1,216,787 kWh of electricity and 11,439 therms of natural gas for the year.

Which law requires Wardman Tower to report its energy use?

Wardman Tower 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 2020 disclosure (source record dc:PM6256695:2020). 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.