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.) |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Island Terrace Apartments
6424 6444 S STONYISLAND AVE
| Multifamily Housing | 7.6 kg/sqft 
Highest 30%
| 1,815 tons
Highest 26%
|
|
Congress Plaza Hotel
520 S Michigan Ave
| Hotel | 7.6 kg/sqft
Highest 30%
| 4,593 tons
Highest 8%
|
|
Wabash Building
425 S Wabash Ave
| Residence Hall/Dormitory | 7.6 kg/sqft
Highest 30%
| 3,162 tons
Highest 13%
|
|
O'Hare Plaza II
8755 W HIGGINS RD
| Office | 7.6 kg/sqft
Highest 30%
| 1,941 tons
Highest 24%
|
|
4541 N. Sheridan
🕰️
4541 N Sheridan
| Multifamily Housing | 7.6 kg/sqft | 468 tons  |
|
Linea Apartments
211 221 W LAKE ST
| Multifamily Housing | 7.6 kg/sqft
Highest 30%
| 1,809 tons
Highest 26%
|
|
6045 W GRAND AVE
6045 W GRAND AVE
| Senior Living Community | 7.6 kg/sqft
Highest 30%
| 456 tons
Lowest 22%
|
|
2061 N CAMPBELL AVE
2061 N CAMPBELL AVE
| Multifamily Housing | 7.6 kg/sqft
Highest 30%
| 1,064 tons
Highest 43%
|
|
421 W BARRY AVE
421 W BARRY AVE
| Multifamily Housing | 7.6 kg/sqft
Highest 30%
| 462 tons
Lowest 22%
|
|
The Rookery Building
🕰️
209 S LaSalle St
| Office | 7.6 kg/sqft | 2,558 tons |
|
33 E Congress
(Columbia)
33 E Congress Pkwy
| College/University | 7.6 kg/sqft
Highest 30%
| 1,170 tons
Highest 40%
|
|
190 S LaSalle St
190 S LaSalle St
| Office | 7.6 kg/sqft
Highest 30%
| 6,730 tons
Highest 4%
|
|
150 N Wacker Dr
150 N Wacker Dr
| Office | 7.6 kg/sqft
Highest 30%
| 2,251 tons
Highest 20%
|
|
Inland Steel Building
30 W Monroe
| Office | 7.6 kg/sqft
Highest 30%
| 2,300 tons
Highest 19%
|
|
Mallers Building LLC
5 S Wabash Ave
| Enclosed Mall | 7.6 kg/sqft
Highest 30%
| 2,387 tons
Highest 19%
|
Data Source:
Chicago Energy Benchmarking Data