Electrify Chicago
An independent tool for viewing City of Chicago building data
According to the
2022 Chicago Climate Action Plan
,
69% of Chicago's emissions come from buildings, making
building emissions our biggest challenge and our biggest opportunity as a city
to tackle climate change. At Electrify Chicago, we showcase building performance using
publicly available data supplemented by community-submitted photographs and building
owners.
Start by looking at Chicago's buildings with the highest greenhouse gas intensity i.e. emissions per square foot. Large, efficient, buildings can perform much better than very inefficient small buildings on this metric.
New Article
📰 $30 Million In Missed Fines
The City Of Chicago failed to collect $30 million in potential fines from the building benchmarking ordinance, reducing transparency and accountability.
Legislative update! 🎉
As of late January 2024, legislation is being introduced to require new use more efficient forms of water and space heating, via the Clean And Affordable Buildings Ordinance (CABO), which will reduce the number of highly polluting and inefficient buildings that end up on this site.
If you're in Chicago,
write to your alderman to support the CABO!
Chicago Buildings by Greenhouse Gas Intensity
Note: Data includes large Chicago buildings with data from 2022, unless explicitly stated otherwise.
Note: This data only includes buildings whose emissions are reported
under the
Chicago Energy Benchmarking Ordinance. According to the City “As of 2016,
this list includes all commercial, institutional, and residential buildings larger than
50,000 square feet.” This dataset is also then filtered to only buildings with
reported emissions > 1,000 metric tons CO2 equivalent.
The latest year of data is from 2022, but we update the site regularly when new data is available, and some buildings may have failed to report that year, and only have older data available.
| Property Name / address | Primary Property Type |
Greenhouse Gas Intensity (kg CO2 eq./sqft) |
Total Greenhouse Emissions (metric tons CO2 eq.) |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Symphony Center
220 S Michigan Ave
| Performing Arts | 10.8 kg/sqft 
Highest 11%
| 3,174 tons
Highest 13%
|
|
Edith Spurlock Sampson Apts
(CHA)
2720 N Sheffield Ave
| Multifamily Housing | 10.8 kg/sqft
Highest 11%
| 1,691 tons
Highest 28%
|
|
Little Village HS Campus -CPS
(CPS)
3120 S Kostner Ave
| K-12 School | 10.8 kg/sqft
Highest 11%
| 3,147 tons
Highest 13%
|
|
West Side Realty Corporation
1645 W Jackson Blvd
| Medical Office | 10.8 kg/sqft
Highest 11%
| 1,368 tons
Highest 35%
|
|
Home Depot, #1950 Chicago South Loop
1300 S Clinton St
| Retail Store | 10.8 kg/sqft
Highest 11%
| 1,160 tons
Highest 40%
|
|
5041 - North Bridge Block 119 and 120
🕰️
43 E Ohio St
| Enclosed Mall | 10.8 kg/sqft | 4,888 tons |
|
Thompson Center
🕰️
100 W Randolph St
| Office | 10.8 kg/sqft | 12,909 tons |
|
Englewood Academy HS -CPS
(CPS)
6201 S Stewart Ave
| K-12 School | 10.8 kg/sqft
Highest 11%
| 2,035 tons
Highest 23%
|
|
Chicago Journeymen Plumbers' Local 130, U.A.
1340 W Washington Blvd
| Office | 10.7 kg/sqft
Highest 11%
| 545 tons 
Lowest 30%
|
|
COOK COUNTY CENTRAL CAMPUS HEALTH CENTER
1950 W Polk St
| Office | 10.7 kg/sqft
Highest 11%
| 3,031 tons
Highest 14%
|
|
Johnson Center for Science and Community Life
(North Park)
5141 N Christiana Ave
| College/University | 10.7 kg/sqft
Highest 11%
| 1,080 tons
Highest 43%
|
|
Chicago South Loop Hotel
🕰️
11 W. 26th Street
| Hotel | 10.7 kg/sqft | 1,103 tons |
|
Moody Bible Institute, Torrey-Gray Doane
(Moody Bible)
840 N LaSalle St
| College/University | 10.7 kg/sqft
Highest 11%
| 926 tons
Highest 48%
|
|
Mahalia Jackson Elementary -CPS
🕰️
(CPS)
917 W 88th St
| K-12 School | 10.7 kg/sqft | 795 tons |
|
Agassiz Elementary -CPS
(CPS)
2851 N Seminary Ave
| K-12 School | 10.7 kg/sqft
Highest 11%
| 617 tons
Lowest 35%
|
Data Source:
Chicago Energy Benchmarking Data