An Embassy Suites hotel in the West End and a National Academy of Sciences building are DC’s most energy-efficient privately owned buildings, according to statsitics published today by the District Department of the Environment. The data also find that the District’s building stock has one of the top energy-use ratings of any major US city, based on the federal government’s Energy Star benchmark. On average, private buildings in DC have a score of 77, meaning they use energy more efficiently than 77 percent of buildings that use the reporting standard.
The Embassy Suites, at 1250 22nd St., NW, and the National Academy of Sciences, at 2101 Constitution Ave., NW (with the Albert Einstein statue out front), both reported perfect scores of 100. Office buildings at 425 I St., NW, and 2000 M St., NW, also came in with scores of at least 98. The energy report also shows that the Embassy Suites is an industry outlier, with most hotels scoring below 50. In fact, a Courtyard hotel in NoMa and the Ritz-Carlton in West End both scored Energy Star ratings of 1.
Also reporting at the bottom are Washington Hospital Center and a medical research building at Georgetown University, with the former also earning the distinction of producing the most greenhouse gas emissions of any privately owned building in the city. The George Washington University dorm Ross Hall used the most energy per square foot.
Today’s report marks the first time DC has released energy-efficiency ratings of privately owned buildings, making it the second US city after New York to require private buildings to report their energy use.
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Benjamin Freed joined Washingtonian in August 2013 and covers politics, business, and media. He was previously the editor of DCist and has also written for Washington City Paper, the New York Times, the New Republic, Slate, and BuzzFeed. He lives in Adams Morgan.
