John G Shedd Aquarium

1200 S Lake Shore Dr, Chicago IL, 60605 Find on Google Maps

Chicago Building ID: 166134

Attribution: Image Source . Cropped from original.

Building Info

Square Footage: 452,756 sqft
#2 Largest of Other
Higher than 85% of all buildings
3.2x median
139,707 sqft
4.4x median Other
102,750 sqft
Built: 1929
Primary Property Type: Other
Community Area: Near South Side
Chicago Energy Rating: 1.0 / 4
Owner

Emissions & Energy Information for 2022

Greenhouse Gas Intensity: 21.3 kg CO₂e / sqft
#1 Highest of Other 🚨
Higher than 98% of all buildings
3.3x median
6.4 kg CO₂e / sqft
2.9x median Other
7.3 kg CO₂e / sqft
Total Greenhouse Gas Emissions: 9,640.3 tons CO₂e
#1 Highest of Other 🚨
Higher than 98% of all buildings
11x median
885.8 tons CO₂e
11x median Other
897.4 tons CO₂e

Years Reported 8/8 A

2015
2016
2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022

Energy Breakdown

Natural Gas Use: 32,251,318.8 kBtu
Est. Gas Bill: $385,000 for 2022**
#1 Highest of Other 🚨
Higher than 94% of all buildings
6x median
5,818,399.6 kBtu
6x median Other
5,453,788.2 kBtu
Electricity Use: 56,655,688 kBtu
Est. Electric Bill: $2,374,000 for 2022**
#1 Highest of Other 🚨
Higher than 97% of all buildings
15x median
3,796,376.7 kBtu
13x median Other
4,518,364 kBtu

Energy Mix

Total Energy Use: 88,907,007 kBTU

View Extra Technical Info

Source Energy Usage Intensity: 425.2 kBtu / sqft
#1 Highest of Other 🚨
Higher than 98% of all buildings
3.2x median
132.2 kBtu / sqft
2.8x median Other
153.2 kBtu / sqft
Site Energy Usage Intensity: 196.4 kBtu / sqft
#1 Highest of Other 🚨
Higher than 96% of all buildings
2.5x median
78.4 kBtu / sqft
2.5x median Other
80 kBtu / sqft

Full Historical Data Table

Year	Floor Area sqft	Chicago Energy Rating	GHG Intensity kg CO₂e / sqft	GHG Emissions metric tons CO₂e	Source EUI kBTU / sqft	Electricity Use kBTU	Natural Gas Use kBTU
2015	452,756	-	30.6	13,834	493.2	60,329,483	32,254,913
2016	452,756	-	27.6	12,474.7	479.2	58,818,956	30,746,437
2017	452,756	-	27.2	12,294.4	471.3	57,543,312	31,157,091
2018	452,756	2.0	24.9	11,270.2	430.1	57,411,949	32,362,424
2019	452,756	1.0	25.1	11,370.5	434.4	57,507,724	33,950,912
2020	452,756	1.0	22.1	9,988.9	402.1	54,056,852	29,225,848
2021	452,756	1.0	22.1	10,016.9	434.4	57,507,656	33,950,921
2022	452,756	1.0	21.3	9,640.3	425.2	56,655,688	32,251,318

* 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: