551 557 W NORTH AVE 

551 557 W NORTH AVE, Chicago IL, 60610 Find on Google Maps (opens in a new tab)

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
Owner
Chicago Housing Authority
View All Tagged CHA Buildings

Note: Owner manually tagged. Logo used under fair use.

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 data reported

    2016

  • 2017 data reported

    2017

  • 2018 data not reported

    2018

  • 2019 data reported

    2019

  • 2020 data reported

    2020

  • 2021 data reported

    2021

  • 2022 data reported

    2022

Note: Buildings are marked as reporting when we have greenhouse gas intensity values for them, but some buildings are missing GHG intensity values but have reported the underlying energy use data, but we're unsure why this is the case.

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 2.5203.846.1684,1721,462,738
2017 80,000 - 1 13.31,063.1258.8607,09117,902,139
2018 80,000 0.0 - ---
2019 589,941 2.0 41 4.72,771.384.010,656,86318,797,359
2020 63,139 3.5 57 6.1385.8114.41,413,0453,110,626
2021 63,139 4.0 87 4.5282.587.91,467,4731,372,155
2022 81,379 4.0 82 5.4340.1110.31,210,9163,400,677

* 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 (opens in a new tab) for the original statistics.

Data Source: Chicago Energy Benchmarking Data (opens in a new tab)

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 (opens in a new tab)). This has already been done across the country with a variety of buildings, large and small, like the Hotel Marcel (opens in a new tab).

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: