Watkins Elementary School/ Watkins Recreation Center

How does Watkins Elementary School/ Watkins Recreation Center compare with other K-12 school buildings in Washington, DC?

The latest disclosures cover 333 K-12 school buildings in Washington, DC, out of 6,870 buildings citywide. Watkins Elementary School/ Watkins Recreation Center's ENERGY STAR score of 20 compares with an average of 44 across the 304 that report a score; it scores higher than 21% of them and lower than 78%. Its site EUI of 65.2 kBtu/ft² is roughly in line with the average of 64.1 kBtu/ft². Its emissions intensity of 4.9 kgCO₂e/ft² is roughly in line with the group average of 4.8 kgCO₂e/ft².

At 76,465 sq ft, it is about 28% below the average floor area of 105,946 sq ft for those buildings. It was built in 1962, 13 years later than the group's average year built (1949). Across all 24 jurisdictions BuildingCensus covers, the 6,548 K-12 school buildings average an ENERGY STAR score of 64 and a site EUI of 52.7 kBtu/ft².

How has Watkins Elementary School/ Watkins Recreation Center's energy performance changed over time?

BuildingCensus holds 6 Washington, DC disclosures for Watkins Elementary School/ Watkins Recreation Center, covering report years 2019–2024. Its ENERGY STAR score went from 21 in 2019 to 20 in 2024 (-1 points); its best year on file was 2020, at 40. Site EUI moved from 77.5 kBtu/ft² (2019) to 65.2 kBtu/ft² (2024), a 16% decrease. Reported emissions went from 483 tCO₂e to 376 tCO₂e over the same span (down 22%).

What does an ENERGY STAR score of 20 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 20 means the building performs better than about 20% of its national peers. BuildingCensus bands the score into report-card grades; 20 falls in band D — lowest band (1–54). It sits 55 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. Watkins Elementary School/ Watkins Recreation Center's 65.2 kBtu/ft² across 76,465 sq ft works out to about 5 billion Btu (1,461 MWh-equivalent) in 2024. Its source EUI of 164.7 kBtu/ft² also counts the energy lost generating and delivering that power, which is why it is higher. The disclosure also reports 1,233,644 kWh of electricity and 7,728 therms of natural gas for the year.

Which law requires Watkins Elementary School/ Watkins Recreation Center to report its energy use?

Watkins Elementary School/ Watkins Recreation Center 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:PM12004523:2024). 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.