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.) |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Hope College Preparatory High School
(CPS)
5515 South Lowe Ave
| K-12 School | 12.4 kg/sqft 
Highest 9%
| 1,984 tons
Highest 23%
|
|
Student Center
(DePaul)
2250 N Sheffield Ave
| College/University | 12.4 kg/sqft
Highest 9%
| 1,849 tons
Highest 25%
|
|
Gateway Centre 175603 Building A (Marshalls)
1701 - 1741 W Howard St
| Strip Mall | 12.4 kg/sqft
Highest 9%
| 827 tons 
Lowest 48%
|
|
1111 N. Clark St.
1111 N Clark St
| Automobile Dealership | 12.4 kg/sqft
Highest 9%
| 1,118 tons
Highest 41%
|
|
McCormick Tribune Campus Center (MTCC)
📷
(Illinois Tech)
3201 S State Street
| College/University | 12.3 kg/sqft
Highest 9%
| 1,151 tons
Highest 40%
|
|
Lakeside Terrace
7425 S South Shore Dr
| Multifamily Housing | 12.3 kg/sqft
Highest 9%
| 682 tons
Lowest 40%
|
|
Thomas P. Levan Center
(DePaul)
2322 N Kenmore Ave
| College/University | 12.3 kg/sqft
Highest 9%
| 647 tons
Lowest 38%
|
|
Aviation Lofts
1340 S MICHIGAN AVE
| Multifamily Housing | 12.3 kg/sqft
Highest 9%
| 614 tons
Lowest 36%
|
|
The Selfhelp Home, Inc.
908 920 W ARGYLE ST
| Senior Living Community | 12.3 kg/sqft
Highest 9%
| 1,804 tons
Highest 26%
|
|
W Chicago City Center
172 W Adams St
| Hotel | 12.3 kg/sqft
Highest 9%
| 2,986 tons
Highest 14%
|
|
Womans Athletic Club Chicago
626 640 N Michigan
| Social/Meeting Hall | 12.3 kg/sqft
Highest 9%
| 1,049 tons
Highest 43%
|
|
Clayton Residential Home Inc
2026 N CLARK ST
| Residential Care Facility | 12.3 kg/sqft
Highest 9%
| 760 tons
Lowest 45%
|
|
Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center
🚨
836 W Wellington Ave
| Hospital (General Medical & Surgical) | 12.3 kg/sqft
Highest 9%
| 16,172 tons #30 Highest
|
|
Siegel Hall
(Illinois Tech)
3301 S State Street
| College/University | 12.2 kg/sqft
Highest 9%
| 775 tons
Lowest 45%
|
|
Viceroy Chicago
1118 N State Street
| Hotel | 12.2 kg/sqft
Highest 9%
| 1,638 tons
Highest 29%
|
Data Source:
Chicago Energy Benchmarking Data