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 includes large Chicago buildings with data from 2022, 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.
The latest year of data is from 2022, but we update the site regularly when new data is available, and some buildings may have failed to report that year, and only have older data available.
| Property Name / address | Primary Property Type |
Greenhouse Gas Intensity (kg CO2 eq./sqft) |
Total Greenhouse Emissions (metric tons CO2 eq.) |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Ratner Athletics Center
(UChicago)
5530 S Ellis Ave
| Fitness Center/Health Club/Gym | 18.9 kg/sqft 
Highest 3%
| 3,186 tons
Highest 12%
|
|
Jewel Osco, 03296-Foster & Harlem
7342 W Foster Ave
| Supermarket/Grocery Store | 18.9 kg/sqft
Highest 3%
| 1,457 tons
Highest 32%
|
|
The Art Institute of Chicago
🚨
📷
111 S Michigan Ave
| Museum | 18.9 kg/sqft
Highest 3%
| 19,069 tons #17 Highest
|
|
Chicago Historical Society
🕰️
1601 N Clark Street
| Museum | 18.8 kg/sqft | 5,074 tons |
|
Sheridan Shores Nursing Rehabilitation
🕰️
5838 N. Sheridan Rd.
| Senior Care Community | 18.8 kg/sqft | 943 tons |
|
Costco
2746 N Clybourn Ave
| Supermarket/Grocery Store | 18.8 kg/sqft
Highest 3%
| 2,682 tons
Highest 16%
|
|
Riverfront Plaza
🕰️
2647 N Elston Avenue
| Strip Mall | 18.7 kg/sqft | 3,980 tons |
|
Harpo Studios
🕰️
110 N Carpenter
| Other - Entertainment/Public Assembly | 18.7 kg/sqft | 2,480 tons |
|
Integrys Group Division Street Facility
🕰️
1241 West Division Street
| Repair Services (Vehicle, Shoe, Locksmith, etc.) | 18.7 kg/sqft | 2,710 tons |
|
Jewel Osco, 03170-Pulaski & 55th St
5320 S Pulaski Rd
| Supermarket/Grocery Store | 18.7 kg/sqft
Highest 3%
| 1,348 tons
Highest 35%
|
|
Presence Resurrection Medical Center
🚨
7435 W Talcott Ave
| Hospital (General Medical & Surgical) | 18.7 kg/sqft
Highest 3%
| 20,493 tons #12 Highest
|
|
Mansueto Library
1100 E 57th St
| Library | 18.6 kg/sqft
Highest 3%
| 1,189 tons
Highest 39%
|
|
Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago
🚨
225 E Chicago Ave
| Hospital (General Medical & Surgical) | 18.6 kg/sqft
Highest 3%
| 24,012 tons #9 Highest
|
|
Shriners Hospital for Children-Chicago
2211 N Oak Park Ave
| Hospital (General Medical & Surgical) | 18.6 kg/sqft
Highest 3%
| 3,652 tons
Highest 10%
|
|
United Center
🕰️
1901 W Madison St
| Indoor Arena | 18.6 kg/sqft | 17,884 tons |
Data Source:
Chicago Energy Benchmarking Data