Electrify Chicago
An independent tool for viewing City of Chicago building data
According to the
2022 Chicago Climate Action Plan
,
69% of Chicago's emissions come from buildings, making
building emissions our biggest challenge and our biggest opportunity as a city
to tackle climate change. At Electrify Chicago, we showcase building performance using
publicly available data supplemented by community-submitted photographs and building
owners.
Start by looking at Chicago's buildings with the highest greenhouse gas intensity i.e. emissions per square foot. Large, efficient, buildings can perform much better than very inefficient small buildings on this metric.
New Article
📰 $30 Million In Missed Fines
The City Of Chicago failed to collect $30 million in potential fines from the building benchmarking ordinance, reducing transparency and accountability.
Legislative update! 🎉
As of late January 2024, legislation is being introduced to require new use more efficient forms of water and space heating, via the Clean And Affordable Buildings Ordinance (CABO), which will reduce the number of highly polluting and inefficient buildings that end up on this site.
If you're in Chicago,
write to your alderman to support the CABO!
Chicago Buildings by Greenhouse Gas Intensity
Note: Data only includes large Chicago buildings from 2021, unless explicitly stated otherwise.
Note: This data only includes buildings whose emissions are reported
under the
Chicago Energy Benchmarking Ordinance. According to the City “As of 2016,
this list includes all commercial, institutional, and residential buildings larger than
50,000 square feet.” This dataset is also then filtered to only buildings with
reported emissions > 1,000 metric tons CO2 equivalent.
This data is also from 2021, but when new benchmark data is available, we'll update the site.
| Property Name / address | Primary Property Type |
Greenhouse Gas Intensity (kg CO2 eq./sqft) |
Total Greenhouse Emissions (metric tons CO2 eq.) |
|---|---|---|---|
|
WTTW 11 - Main Campus
5400 N St Louis Ave
| Office | 13.4 kg/sqft 
Highest 8%
| 2,448 tons
Highest 18%
|
|
Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago Main Building
1100 E 55TH ST
| College/University | 13.4 kg/sqft
Highest 8%
| 1,603 tons
Highest 29%
|
|
1123 The Allegro Royal Sonesta Hotel 171 W Randolph
🚩
151 171 W Randolph St
| Hotel | 13.4 kg/sqft
Highest 8%
| 5,149 tons
Highest 7%
|
|
Walter Henri Dyett High School for the Arts
(CPS)
555 E 51st St
| K-12 School | 13.3 kg/sqft
Highest 8%
| 2,160 tons
Highest 21%
|
|
420 N Wabash Ave
420 N Wabash Ave
| Office | 13.3 kg/sqft
Highest 8%
| 1,365 tons
Highest 34%
|
|
Walmart Supercenter #5965
10900 S Doty Ave
| Wholesale Club/Supercenter | 13.3 kg/sqft
Highest 8%
| 2,068 tons
Highest 22%
|
|
Regenstein Library
1100 E 57th St
| Library | 13.3 kg/sqft
Highest 8%
| 8,030 tons
Highest 4%
|
|
Lavin Family Pavilion (Outpatient Care Pavilion)
259 E Erie St
| Medical Office | 13.3 kg/sqft
Highest 8%
| 9,226 tons
Highest 3%
|
|
63029-Sunrise of Lincoln Park
2710 N. Clark St
| Senior Living Community | 13.2 kg/sqft
Highest 8%
| 661 tons 
Lowest 39%
|
|
SpringHill Suites O'Hare
8101 W Higgins Rd
| Hotel | 13.2 kg/sqft
Highest 8%
| 2,106 tons
Highest 21%
|
|
Whitney M Young Magnet High School
(CPS)
211 S Laflin St
| K-12 School | 13.2 kg/sqft
Highest 8%
| 5,702 tons
Highest 6%
|
|
Jackson Square Nursing Home
5130 W JACKSON BLVD
| Senior Living Community | 13.0 kg/sqft
Highest 8%
| 1,434 tons
Highest 33%
|
|
540 West Madison
🚩
540 W Madison
| Financial Office | 13.0 kg/sqft
Highest 8%
| 15,899 tons #31 Highest
|
|
City Hall
(Chicago)
121 N LaSalle St
| Office | 12.9 kg/sqft
Highest 8%
| 5,325 tons
Highest 6%
|
|
Joffco Square
555 W Roosevelt Rd
| Other - Mall | 12.9 kg/sqft
Highest 8%
| 1,229 tons
Highest 38%
|
Data Source:
Chicago Energy Benchmarking Data