Electrify Chicago

According to the 2022 Chicago Climate Action Plan, a whopping 69% of Chicago's emissions come from buildings, making it our biggest challenge and our biggest opportunity as a city to tackle change. At Electrify Chicago we want to showcase some of the best and worst performing buildings in the city using publicly available data and manual annotations to add building photographs and label multi-building owners like universities.

2017 GHG Emissions -
31M metric tons CO2 equivalent
69% buildings
24% transportation
7% waste

Chicago 2022 CAP

You can start by looking at Chicago's buildings with the highest greenhouse gas intensity - this means that they use the most energy when adjusted per unit of square foot, so big buildings could actually perform much better than very inefficient small buildings on this metric.

Chicago Buildings by Greenhouse Gas Intensity

Note: Data only includes large Chicago buildings from 2020

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.

This data is also from 2020, but when new benchmark data is available, we'll update the site.

Chicago 2022 CAP

Property Name / address	Primary Property Type	Greenhouse Gas Intensity (kg CO₂ eq./sqft)	Total Greenhouse Emissions (metric tons CO₂ eq.)
Aqua 🚩 📷 225 N Columbus Dr	Multifamily Housing	10.0 kg/sqft Highest 29%	12,896 tons Highest 4%
2500 N Lakeview Ave 2500 N Lakeview Ave	Multifamily Housing	9.9 kg/sqft Highest 29%	2,064 tons Lowest 50%
Home Depot, #1961 Elston/Leavitt 2542 Elston Ave	Retail Store	9.9 kg/sqft Highest 29%	1,184 tons Lowest 14%
4180 N MARINE DR 4180 N MARINE DR	Multifamily Housing	9.9 kg/sqft Highest 29%	1,078 tons Lowest 6%
Alice B. Sharp Building 37 S Wabash Ave	College/University	9.9 kg/sqft Highest 29%	2,257 tons Highest 45%
The Field Museum 🚩 1400 S Lake Shore Dr	Mixed Use Property	9.9 kg/sqft Highest 29%	12,647 tons Highest 4%
3110 Sheridan Condominiums 🏆 3110 N Sheridan Rd	Multifamily Housing	9.8 kg/sqft Highest 30%	1,175 tons Lowest 13%
Goldblatts Building 1609 W Chicago Ave	Office	9.8 kg/sqft Highest 30%	1,570 tons Lowest 33%
Fox Ford Lincoln Chicago 2501 N ELSTON AVE	Automobile Dealership	9.8 kg/sqft Highest 30%	1,429 tons Lowest 26%
Douglass, Frederick Academy HS -CPS 543 N Waller Ave	K-12 School	9.8 kg/sqft Highest 30%	1,320 tons Lowest 20%
Disney Magnet -CPS 4140 N Marine Dr	K-12 School	9.8 kg/sqft Highest 30%	2,543 tons Highest 38%
IL0032ZZ - Chicago Customhouse 610 S Canal St	Office	9.8 kg/sqft Highest 30%	2,750 tons Highest 34%
2111 W Roosevelt Rd 2111 W Roosevelt Rd	Office	9.8 kg/sqft Highest 30%	4,488 tons Highest 19%
Michigan Beach/Sandalwood 7251 S SOUTH SHORE DR	Multifamily Housing	9.8 kg/sqft Highest 30%	1,732 tons Lowest 39%
1000 Condominium Association 1000 N Lake Shore Plz	Multifamily Housing	9.8 kg/sqft Highest 30%	3,929 tons Highest 22%

Data Source: Chicago Energy Benchmarking Data