by Brianna Crandall — January 8, 2016—The City of Chicago recently released the results of its second annual assessment of energy use in large commercial, institutional, and residential buildings throughout the city. The findings, which have implications for other cities, 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 “Unlocking Building Energy Savings” infographic, the City published information on approximately 250 of the largest buildings on the Chicago Data Portal. The City Energy Project also partnered with Chicago to launch a new Chicago Energy Benchmarking Web site where users can interact with this building energy performance data.
Chicago is one of 10 cities currently participating in the City Energy 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. The group notes that the release of the Chicago report immediately after the historic COP21 Paris Agreement to curb global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions “underscores the urgency for everyone — from big countries to local cities — to take action now.”
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).
Jamie Ponce, Chicago Director of Energy and Climate Innovation for the C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group, noted:
Far-reaching partner engagement on Chicago Energy Benchmarking demonstrates the power of information to inspire action. This policy is driving a deeper understanding of energy use that enables allows the real estate industry, energy stakeholders, utilities, policymakers, and the public to make better-informed energy decisions, with implications across the City of Chicago and beyond.
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.
Following the publication of the 2015 findings, the City and its partners will move into the third year of benchmarking policy implementation. In 2016, all commercial, institutional, and residential properties larger than 50,000 square feet will be required to report energy use data by June 1, and residential buildings 50,000–250,000 square feet will also be required to verify reported information.
