601 W Polk Street 
🚨

601 W Polk Street, Chicago IL, 60607 Find on Google Maps (opens in a new tab)

Chicago Building ID: 255504

Building Info

Square Footage
104,000 sqft
Lower than 62% of all buildings
0.7x median
139,707 sqft
0.6x median Data Center
170,000 sqft
Built
1918
Primary Property Type
Data Center
Community Area
Near West Side
Owner
Not Tagged

Emissions & Energy Information for 2022

Greenhouse Gas Intensity
62.2 kg CO2e / sqft
#5 Highest in Chicago* 🚨
10x median
6.4 kg CO2e / sqft
0.8x median Data Center
77.8 kg CO2e / sqft
Total Greenhouse Gas Emissions
6,467 tons CO2e
Higher than 95% of all buildings
7x median
885.8 tons CO2e
0.5x median Data Center
11,895.4 tons CO2e

Years Reported 3/4 C

  • 2019 data reported

    2019

  • 2020 data not reported

    2020

  • 2021 data reported

    2021

  • 2022 data reported

    2022

Energy Breakdown

Natural Gas Use
0 kBtu
Lower than 97% of all buildings
Median Chicago Building
5,818,399.6 kBtu
This Building Didn't Burn Any Natural Gas! 🎉

This building burned no natural gas on-site and isn't connected to a district heating system, meaning it's fully electric! View Chicago's Biggest Gas Free Buildings .

Electricity Use
49,099,102.8 kBtu
Est. Electric Bill: $2,058,000 for 2022**
Higher than 97% of all buildings
13x median
3,796,376.7 kBtu
0.5x median Data Center
90,051,317 kBtu

Energy Mix

Total Energy Use: 49,099,103 kBTU

View Extra Technical Info
Source Energy Usage Intensity
1,321.9 kBtu / sqft
#5 Highest in Chicago* 🚨
10x median
132.2 kBtu / sqft
0.8x median Data Center
1,655 kBtu / sqft
Site Energy Usage Intensity
472.1 kBtu / sqft
#9 Highest in Chicago* 🚨
6x median
78.4 kBtu / sqft
0.8x median Data Center
593.2 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
2019 104,000 1.0 17 69.87,255.51174.243,612,422-
2021 104,000 4.0 73 65.76,8291287.347,813,5160
2022 104,000 4.0 85 62.26,4671321.949,099,1020

* 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: