The Chicago Building

7 W Madison St, Chicago IL, 60602 Find on Google Maps

Chicago Building ID: 173632

Building Info

Square Footage: 104,965 sqft
0.8x median
139,707 sqft
1/2 median Residence Hall/Dormitory
237,121 sqft
Built: 1904
Primary Property Type: Residence Hall/Dormitory
Community Area: Loop
Chicago Energy Rating: 2.5 / 4
Energy Star Score: 59 / 100
Owner

Emissions & Energy Information for 2021

Greenhouse Gas Intensity: 8 kg CO₂e / sqft
1.3x median
6.4 kg CO₂e / sqft
1.2x median Residence Hall/Dormitory
6.8 kg CO₂e / sqft
Total Greenhouse Gas Emissions: 840.1 tons CO₂e
0.9x median
885.8 tons CO₂e
1/2 median Residence Hall/Dormitory
2,005.1 tons CO₂e

Years Reported 8/8 A

2015
2016
2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022

Energy Breakdown

Natural Gas Use: 6,015,300.1 kBtu
Est. Gas Bill: $72,000 for 2021**
1.0x median
5,818,399.6 kBtu
6x median Residence Hall/Dormitory
1,018,042 kBtu
Electricity Use: 2,914,582.3 kBtu
Est. Electric Bill: $122,000 for 2021**
0.8x median
3,796,376.7 kBtu
1/3 median Residence Hall/Dormitory
9,286,974.7 kBtu
District Chilled Water Use: 1,412,388 kBtu
Most buildings don't use district chilling, so we don't currently have comparison data.

Energy Mix

Total Energy Use: 10,342,270 kBTU

View Extra Technical Info

Source Energy Usage Intensity: 150.2 kBtu / sqft
1.1x median
132.2 kBtu / sqft
1.1x median Residence Hall/Dormitory
139.8 kBtu / sqft
Site Energy Usage Intensity: 98.5 kBtu / sqft
1.3x median
78.4 kBtu / sqft
1.2x median Residence Hall/Dormitory
84.6 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	104,965	-	-	9.3	977	154.9	2,960,920	5,419,214
2016	104,965	-	-	9.3	978.7	162.6	3,106,181	5,478,800
2017	104,965	-	-	8.6	907.2	151.1	2,784,427	5,466,884
2018	104,965	3.0	63	9.0	940.1	156.3	2,841,639	6,798,410
2019	104,965	3.0	61	8.9	932	156.0	2,886,031	6,892,700
2020	104,965	3.0	67	7.6	793.8	136.8	2,554,315	5,914,599
2021	104,965	2.5	59	8.0	840.1	150.2	2,914,582	6,015,300
2022	104,965	0.0	-		-		-	-

* 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: