551 557 W NORTH AVE

551 557 W NORTH AVE, Chicago IL, 60610 Find on Google Maps

Chicago Building ID: 140771

Building Info

Square Footage: 81,379 sqft
Lower than 74% of all buildings
0.6x median
139,707 sqft
0.6x median Multifamily Housing
144,765 sqft
Built: 2000
Primary Property Type: Multifamily Housing
Community Area: Near North Side
Chicago Energy Rating: 4.0 / 4
Energy Star Score: 82 / 100
Owner

Emissions & Energy Information for 2022

Greenhouse Gas Intensity: 5.4 kg CO₂e / sqft
Lower than 69% of all buildings
0.8x median
6.4 kg CO₂e / sqft
0.9x median Multifamily Housing
5.7 kg CO₂e / sqft
Total Greenhouse Gas Emissions: 340.1 tons CO₂e
Lower than 89% of all buildings
1/3 median
885.8 tons CO₂e
1/2 median Multifamily Housing
770.6 tons CO₂e

Years Reported 6/7 B

2016
2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022

Energy Breakdown

Natural Gas Use: 3,400,677 kBtu
Est. Gas Bill: $41,000 for 2022**
Lower than 71% of all buildings
0.6x median
5,818,399.6 kBtu
0.5x median Multifamily Housing
6,538,862.3 kBtu
Electricity Use: 1,210,916 kBtu
Est. Electric Bill: $51,000 for 2022**
Lower than 87% of all buildings
1/3 median
3,796,376.7 kBtu
1/2 median Multifamily Housing
2,848,153.7 kBtu

Energy Mix

Total Energy Use: 4,611,593 kBTU

View Extra Technical Info

Source Energy Usage Intensity: 110.3 kBtu / sqft
Lower than 69% of all buildings
0.8x median
132.2 kBtu / sqft
0.9x median Multifamily Housing
117.9 kBtu / sqft
Site Energy Usage Intensity: 73 kBtu / sqft
Lower than 57% of all buildings
0.9x median
78.4 kBtu / sqft
1.0x median Multifamily Housing
73.7 kBtu / sqft

Full Historical Data Table

Year	Floor Area sqft	Chicago Energy Rating	Energy Star Score	GHG Intensity kg CO₂e / sqft	GHG Emissions metric tons CO₂e	Source EUI kBTU / sqft	Electricity Use kBTU	Natural Gas Use kBTU
2016	80,000	-	100	2.5	203.8	46.1	684,172	1,462,738
2017	80,000	-	1	13.3	1,063.1	258.8	607,091	17,902,139
2019	589,941	2.0	41	4.7	2,771.3	84.0	10,656,863	18,797,359
2020	63,139	3.5	57	6.1	385.8	114.4	1,413,045	3,110,626
2021	63,139	4.0	87	4.5	282.5	87.9	1,467,473	1,372,155
2022	81,379	4.0	82	5.4	340.1	110.3	1,210,916	3,400,677

* Note on Rankings: Rankings and medians are among included buildings, which are those who reported under the Chicago Energy Benchmarking Ordinance for the year 2022, which only applies to buildings over 50,000 square feet.

** Note on Bill Estimates: Estimates for gas and electric bills are based on average electric and gas retail prices for Chicago in 2021 and are rounded. We expect large buildings would negotiate lower rates with utilities, but these estimates serve as an upper bound of cost and help understand the volume of energy a building is used by comparing it to your own energy bills! See our Chicago Gas & Electric Costs Source for the original statistics.

Data Source: Chicago Energy Benchmarking Data

What Should We Do About This?

Practically every building has room to improve with energy efficiency upgrades like insulation, switching to ENERGY STAR rated appliances, and more, but for any buildings with large natural gas use, we recommend one thing: electrify!

In other words, buildings should look to move all on-site uses of fossil fuels (including space heating, water heating, and cooking) to electrically powered systems like industrial grade heat pumps, heat pump water heaters, and induction stoves. With Illinois' current electric supply, just using the same amount of energy from electricity, rather than natural gas (aka methane) will dramatically reduce greenhouse gas emissions. This is because Illinois' grid in 2020 was already 67% carbon-free (see Illinois - Power | DecarbMyState ). This has already been done across the country with a variety of buildings, large and small, like the Hotel Marcel .

You can help make this a reality by talking to building owners and letting them know that a building's emissions are important to you, and that you want to see their building become fully electric and stop emitting greenhouse gases. Particularly for buildings you have a financial stake in (like your university, work, condo building, or apartment building) your voice in concert with your fellow building users can have a huge impact.

Additional Resources

See some additional resources on improving energy efficiency and understanding this data: