The Art Institute of Chicago
🚨

111 S Michigan Ave, Chicago IL, 60603 Find on Google Maps

Chicago Building ID: 160196

Attribution: Image Source . Cropped from original.

Building Info

Square Footage: 1,008,416 sqft
Higher than 96% of all buildings
7x median
139,707 sqft
3.2x median Museum
316,080 sqft
Built: 1892
Primary Property Type: Museum
Community Area: Loop
Chicago Energy Rating: 1.0 / 4
Owner

Emissions & Energy Information for 2022

Greenhouse Gas Intensity: 18.9 kg CO₂e / sqft
#1 Highest of Museums 🚨
Higher than 97% of all buildings
3.0x median
6.4 kg CO₂e / sqft
3.5x median Museum
5.4 kg CO₂e / sqft
Total Greenhouse Gas Emissions: 19,068.8 tons CO₂e
#17 Highest in Chicago* 🚩
#1 Highest of Museums 🚨
22x median
885.8 tons CO₂e
10x median Museum
1,923.4 tons CO₂e

Years Reported 9/9 A

2014
2015
2016
2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022

Energy Breakdown

Natural Gas Use: 158,224,778.6 kBtu
Est. Gas Bill: $1,886,000 for 2022**
#8 Highest in Chicago* 🚨
#1 Highest of Museums 🚨
27x median
5,818,399.6 kBtu
17x median Museum
9,191,929.9 kBtu
Electricity Use: 80,968,968.1 kBtu
Est. Electric Bill: $3,393,000 for 2022**
#33 Highest in Chicago* 🚩
#1 Highest of Museums 🚨
21x median
3,796,376.7 kBtu
7x median Museum
11,096,315.5 kBtu

Energy Mix

Total Energy Use: 239,193,747 kBTU

View Extra Technical Info

Source Energy Usage Intensity: 389.6 kBtu / sqft
#1 Highest of Museums 🚨
Higher than 97% of all buildings
2.9x median
132.2 kBtu / sqft
3.5x median Museum
112.6 kBtu / sqft
Site Energy Usage Intensity: 237.2 kBtu / sqft
#1 Highest of Museums 🚨
Higher than 98% of all buildings
3.0x median
78.4 kBtu / sqft
3.7x median Museum
64.6 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
2014	1,008,416	-	27.23	27,458	460.0	94,822,312	158,283,369
2015	1,113,416	-	24.5	27,319	418.6	88,935,350	177,925,468
2016	1,008,416	-	25.1	25,340.9	451.2	91,317,062	160,204,044
2017	1,008,416	-	24.0	24,200.3	431.0	84,934,097	159,962,683
2018	1,008,416	1.0	23.8	23,960.3	426.2	89,812,131	169,797,846
2019	1,008,416	1.0	24.0	24,167.1	430.4	89,515,423	174,620,529
2020	1,008,416	2.0	20.7	20,891.4	387.2	79,096,897	160,912,625
2021	1,008,416	0.0		-		-	-
2022	1,008,416	1.0	18.9	19,068.8	389.6	80,968,968	158,224,778

* 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:

The Art Institute of Chicago 🚨