[On December 16, 2015 the City of Chicago] released the results of its second annual assessment of energy use in large commercial, institutional, and residential buildings throughout the city. Findings reveal that improving energy efficiency in these buildings could reduce energy use up to 24 percent, save up to $184 million in energy costs, create as many as 2,000 jobs, and cut carbon pollution equivalent to removing 306,000 cars from the road.
In conjunction with its 2015 Chicago Energy Benchmarking Report and infographic, the City published information on approximately 250 of the its largest buildings on the Chicago Data Portal. The City Energy Project also partnered with Chicago to launch a new website where users can interact with this building energy performance data.
Chicago is one of 10 cities currently participating in the project, a joint initiative of the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) and the Institute for Market Transformation (IMT) that is developing locally tailored plans and programs to create healthier, more prosperous, and more resilient cities by reducing carbon pollution from their largest source: buildings.
Chicago’s 2015 report includes data collected through its Building Energy Use Benchmarking Ordinance, which requires owners of buildings larger than 50,000 square feet to collect and share energy-use data with the city annually and verify the data every three years. Residential buildings larger than 250,000 square feet, along with commercial and institutional buildings larger than 50,000 square feet, were required to report 2014 data this year. The 2015 report examines aggregated 2014 data from more than 1,800 buildings that cover more than 600 million square feet and represent approximately 20 percent of citywide energy use. The 2015 results mark a five-fold increase in participation. Overall, Chicago buildings reported a median ENERGY STAR score of 58 out of 100, which is 16 percent higher than the national median of 50. Also, the buildings that shared energy data for the second consecutive year showed a slight decrease in site energy use (the amount of energy used per square foot, normalized for weather variations).
More than 85 energy, real estate, business, and public interest organizations supported the development and adoption of Chicago’s benchmarking ordinance in 2013, including the Institute for Market Transformation, Natural Resource Defense Council, C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group, Elevate Energy, U.S. Green Building Council–Illinois Chapter, American Institute of Architects–Chicago, ASHRAE – Illinois, Midwest Energy Efficiency Alliance, and Seventhwave. Partner organizations have continued to work with the City to support ordinance implementation by providing extensive outreach and assistance to reporting buildings. In 2015, partner support included a full-time help center that facilitated over 4,800 interactions, 20 free trainings led by local volunteers, and pro-bono assistance to more than 60 buildings.
Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) www.NRDC.org
Press Release dated December 17, 2015