6 cities live · 12+ coming
70,883 buildings.
One energy report card each.
The census of US commercial building energy performance — city benchmarking disclosures unified into free, indexable pages: ENERGY STAR grades, energy-use intensity, carbon emissions and the year-over-year record, for every large building that reports.
Dataset updated . Refreshed from each city's public benchmarking disclosure.
Coverage
Benchmarking cities
Local Law 84 (LL84)
buildings · avg score 63 · avg site EUI 7322.5
LA Municipal Code 22.610.1 (EBEWE)
buildings · avg score 77 · avg site EUI 74.4
Chicago Energy Benchmarking Ordinance
buildings · avg score 60 · avg site EUI 84.9
Seattle Energy Benchmarking Ordinance (SMC 22.920)
buildings · avg score 76 · avg site EUI 52.8
BEUDO
buildings · avg score 66 · avg site EUI 121.0
SF Environment Code Chapter 20
buildings · avg score 76 · avg site EUI 52.0
Coming next: Boston, Washington, DC, Denver, Philadelphia and more — full coverage roadmap →
The report card
How America's disclosed buildings grade out
ENERGY STAR scores banded A (85–100) / B (70–84) / C (55–69) / D (1–54) across the 41,721 buildings that report a score. The average disclosed building scores 66.
The penalty hook
Biggest reported emitters
| # | Building | City | Emissions |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Coresite Sv8 | California | 27,420,510 tCO₂e |
| 2 | 2825-2829 Watt Avenue | California | 24,960,546 tCO₂e |
| 3 | Hct America, Inc | California | 12,986,194 tCO₂e |
| 4 | Bass Medical Group | California | 12,533,107 tCO₂e |
| 5 | Sacramento Ca I, Sgf, Llc | California | 11,886,481 tCO₂e |
| 6 | Washington Hilton | Washington, DC | 6,992,575 tCO₂e |
| 7 | 1720 E CESAR CHAVEZ AVE EAST | Los Angeles | 2,444,920 tCO₂e |
| 8 | St. Barnabas Nursing Home 1 | New York City | 1,930,445 tCO₂e |
| 9 | St. Barnabas Parent | New York City | 1,925,440 tCO₂e |
| 10 | Bay Landing Hotel | California | 995,251 tCO₂e |
Taxonomy
What gets benchmarked
| Property type | Buildings | Avg score | Avg site EUI |
|---|---|---|---|
| Multifamily Housing | 39,264 | C65 | 8311.9 kBtu/ft² |
| Office | 5,195 | B73 | 74.6 kBtu/ft² |
| K-12 School | 2,511 | C60 | 308.7 kBtu/ft² |
| Hotel | 1,267 | D53 | 92.8 kBtu/ft² |
| Non-Refrigerated Warehouse | 1,181 | C62 | 34.4 kBtu/ft² |
| Multifamily LR (1-4) | 1,065 | B78 | 34.0 kBtu/ft² |
| Manufacturing/Industrial Plant | 926 | B73 | 130.8 kBtu/ft² |
| College/University | 916 | A90 | 310.8 kBtu/ft² |
| Retail Store | 876 | C68 | 1354.7 kBtu/ft² |
| Multifamily MR (5-9) | 815 | A87 | 36.6 kBtu/ft² |
About the census
What BuildingCensus is
Dozens of US cities now force their largest buildings to disclose energy and water performance every year — but each city publishes its own spreadsheet on its own portal, with its own columns and its own quirks. The data is public; it just isn't usable: no unified pages, no grades at a glance, no year-over-year record, nothing an owner, tenant, broker or retrofit contractor can link to.
BuildingCensus is the unified census: one page per disclosed building with its ENERGY STAR score and letter grade, site and source energy-use intensity, greenhouse-gas emissions and intensity, floor area, vintage and the full multi-year disclosure history — cross-linked to its city, its property type and its compliance context (Local Law 97 caps in New York, BERDO and BEPS elsewhere). Provenance and freshness are first-class: every figure traces to a city's official disclosure file.
Frequently asked questions
What is building energy benchmarking?
Many US cities legally require large buildings (typically over 10,000–25,000 sq ft) to measure and disclose their annual energy and water use through EPA's ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager. The disclosures — ENERGY STAR scores, energy-use intensity and greenhouse-gas emissions — become public records. BuildingCensus unifies them into one page per building.
Which cities require building energy disclosure?
BuildingCensus currently covers six jurisdictions: New York City (Local Law 84), Chicago, Seattle, Los Angeles (EBEWE), Cambridge (BEUDO) and San Francisco — 70,883 buildings in all. A dozen more disclosing jurisdictions (Boston BERDO, Washington DC BEPS, Denver, Philadelphia and others) are being added.
What is a good ENERGY STAR score?
ENERGY STAR scores run 1–100 and represent a percentile against similar buildings nationwide — 50 is median and 75+ qualifies a building for ENERGY STAR certification. BuildingCensus bands scores like a report card: A (85–100), B (70–84), C (55–69), D (below 55).
Which building emits the most carbon?
Among disclosed buildings, the largest reported emitter is Coresite Sv8 in California at 27,420,510 tCO₂e in its latest disclosure year. See the biggest-emitters ranking for the full list.