Watergate West - 2700 Virginia Ave NW

How does Watergate West - 2700 Virginia Ave NW 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. Watergate West - 2700 Virginia Ave NW's ENERGY STAR score of 30 compares with an average of 72 across the 1,618 that report a score; it scores higher than 8% of them and lower than 92%. Its site EUI of 67.4 kBtu/ft² is about 32% 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 4.5 kgCO₂e/ft² is about 19% above the group average of 3.8 kgCO₂e/ft².

At 290,413 sq ft, it is about twice the average floor area of 136,346 sq ft for those buildings. Its 1965 construction date is close to 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 Watergate West - 2700 Virginia Ave NW's energy performance changed over time?

BuildingCensus holds 12 Washington, DC disclosures for Watergate West - 2700 Virginia Ave NW, covering report years 2013–2024. Its ENERGY STAR score went from 1 in 2014 to 30 in 2024 (+29 points); its best year on file was 2020, at 31. Site EUI moved from 206.6 kBtu/ft² (2014) to 67.4 kBtu/ft² (2024), a 67% decrease. Reported emissions went from 4,683 tCO₂e to 1,309 tCO₂e over the same span (down 72%).

What does an ENERGY STAR score of 30 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 30 means the building performs better than about 30% of its national peers. BuildingCensus bands the score into report-card grades; 30 falls in band D — lowest band (1–54). It sits 45 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. Watergate West - 2700 Virginia Ave NW's 67.4 kBtu/ft² across 290,413 sq ft works out to about 19.6 billion Btu (5,737 MWh-equivalent) in 2024. Its source EUI of 117.6 kBtu/ft² also counts the energy lost generating and delivering that power, which is why it is higher. The disclosure also reports 2,278,481 kWh of electricity, 118,077 therms of natural gas and 4,936 thousand gallons of water for the year.

Which law requires Watergate West - 2700 Virginia Ave NW to report its energy use?

Watergate West - 2700 Virginia Ave NW 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:PM4013976:2024). 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.