The Gwen

521 N Rush St, Chicago IL, 60611 Find on Google Maps

Chicago Building ID: 254080

Building Info

Square Footage: 360,000 sqft
Higher than 80% of all buildings
2.6x median
139,707 sqft
1.5x median Hotel
241,525.5 sqft
Built: 1999
Primary Property Type: Hotel
Community Area: Near North Side
Chicago Energy Rating: 4.0 / 4
Energy Star Score: 82 / 100
Owner

Emissions & Energy Information for 2022

Greenhouse Gas Intensity: 7.6 kg CO₂e / sqft
Higher than 70% of all buildings
1.2x median
6.4 kg CO₂e / sqft
0.8x median Hotel
9.4 kg CO₂e / sqft
Total Greenhouse Gas Emissions: 2,727.2 metric tons CO₂ eq.
Higher than 84% of all buildings
3.1x median
885.8 metric tons CO₂ eq.
1.1x median Hotel
2,557.1 metric tons CO₂ eq.
Source Energy Usage Intensity: 154.5 kBtu / sqft
Higher than 68% of all buildings
1.2x median
132.2 kBtu / sqft
0.8x median Hotel
194.1 kBtu / sqft
Site Energy Usage Intensity: 83.3 kBtu / sqft
Higher than 56% of all buildings
1.1x median
78.4 kBtu / sqft
0.8x median Hotel
106.2 kBtu / sqft
Natural Gas Use: 6,825,430.2 kBtu
Est. Gas Bill: $81,000 for 2022**
Higher than 57% of all buildings
1.2x median
5,818,399.6 kBtu
0.5x median Hotel
12,698,925.4 kBtu
Electricity Use: 14,479,393.9 kBtu
Est. Electric Bill: $607,000 for 2022**
Higher than 86% of all buildings
3.8x median
3,796,376.7 kBtu
1.2x median Hotel
12,188,104.7 kBtu
District Chilled Water Use: 8,681,828.4 kBtu
Most buildings don't use district chilling, so we don't currently have comparison data.

Historical Data

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
2016	360,000	-	72	8.7	3,128.6	154.3	11,459,645	6,951,129
2017	360,000	-	49	11.5	4,157.3	201.1	18,187,901	5,187,976
2018	360,000	2.5	58	11.1	3,990.9	190.0	19,495,386	6,759,280
2019	360,000	2.5	58	10.9	3,940.3	187.6	19,115,211	6,584,290
2020	360,000	4.0	99	5.1	1,820.3	91.3	8,405,871	4,089,720
2021	360,000	4.0	94	6.2	2,235.7	118.8	10,148,178	5,910,342
2022	360,000	4.0	82	7.6	2,727.2	154.5	14,479,393	6,825,430

Total GHG Emissions (metric tons CO₂e)

* 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: