James Ward Elementary -CPS

2701 S Shields Ave, Chicago IL, 60616 Find on Google Maps

Chicago Building ID: 251554

Building Info

Square Footage: 85,194 sqft
Lower than 72% of all buildings
0.6x median
139,707 sqft
0.8x median K-12 School
101,627 sqft
Built: 1874
Primary Property Type: K-12 School
Building Count: 3
Community Area: Armour Square
Chicago Energy Rating: 2.0 / 4
Energy Star Score: 27 / 100
Owner

Emissions & Energy Information for 2022

Greenhouse Gas Intensity: 7.6 kg CO₂e / sqft
Higher than 70% of all buildings
1.2x median
6.4 kg CO₂e / sqft
1.2x median K-12 School
6.4 kg CO₂e / sqft
Total Greenhouse Gas Emissions: 644 tons CO₂e
Lower than 63% of all buildings
0.7x median
885.8 tons CO₂e
1.0x median K-12 School
643.4 tons CO₂e

Years Reported 7/8 B

2015
2016
2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
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: 7,130,110 kBtu
Est. Gas Bill: $85,000 for 2022**
Higher than 58% of all buildings
1.2x median
5,818,399.6 kBtu
1.3x median K-12 School
5,465,480 kBtu
Electricity Use: 2,013,724.9 kBtu
Est. Electric Bill: $84,000 for 2022**
Lower than 71% of all buildings
0.5x median
3,796,376.7 kBtu
0.7x median K-12 School
2,728,607.1 kBtu

Energy Mix

Total Energy Use: 9,143,835 kBTU

View Extra Technical Info

Source Energy Usage Intensity: 154.1 kBtu / sqft
Higher than 68% of all buildings
1.2x median
132.2 kBtu / sqft
1.2x median K-12 School
132.5 kBtu / sqft
Site Energy Usage Intensity: 107.3 kBtu / sqft
Higher than 80% of all buildings
1.4x median
78.4 kBtu / sqft
1.3x median K-12 School
81.9 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
2015	85,194	-	65	6.6	564	112.8	1,859,712	3,589,472
2016	85,194	-	70	6.1	516.2	108.8	1,852,909	3,288,229
2017	85,194	-	75	5.7	485.4	100.9	1,941,666	2,380,093
2018	85,194	2.5	53	6.5	557.8	117.1	2,146,969	3,777,681
2019	-	0.0	-		-		-	-
2020	85,194	2.0	17	8.7	740.3	165.4	1,892,663	8,375,569
2021	85,194	2.0	30	7.2	616.4	142.4	2,109,287	5,932,939
2022	85,194	2.0	27	7.6	644	154.1	2,013,724	7,130,110

* 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: