What's on Second Properties

How does What's on Second Properties 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. What's on Second Properties's ENERGY STAR score of 86 compares with an average of 72 across the 1,618 that report a score; it scores higher than 61% of them and lower than 37%. Its site EUI of 38.5 kBtu/ft² is about 25% 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 19% below the group average of 3.8 kgCO₂e/ft².

At 235,905 sq ft, it is about 73% above the average floor area of 136,346 sq ft for those buildings. It was built in 2020, 55 years later 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 What's on Second Properties's energy performance changed over time?

BuildingCensus holds 2 Washington, DC disclosures for What's on Second Properties, covering report years 2023–2024. Its ENERGY STAR score went from 100 in 2023 to 86 in 2024 (-14 points); its best year on file was 2023, at 100. Site EUI moved from 19.0 kBtu/ft² (2023) to 38.5 kBtu/ft² (2024), an 103% increase. Reported emissions went from 414 tCO₂e to 722 tCO₂e over the same span (up 74%).

What does an ENERGY STAR score of 86 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 86 means the building performs better than about 86% of its national peers. BuildingCensus bands the score into report-card grades; 86 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. What's on Second Properties's 38.5 kBtu/ft² across 235,905 sq ft works out to about 9.1 billion Btu (2,662 MWh-equivalent) in 2024. Its source EUI of 107.4 kBtu/ft² also counts the energy lost generating and delivering that power, which is why it is higher. The disclosure also reports 2,643,797 kWh of electricity, 673 therms of natural gas and 4,838 thousand gallons of water for the year.

Which law requires What's on Second Properties to report its energy use?

What's on Second Properties 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:PM38343192:2024). 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.