231-Senior Suites-Garfield Ridge

How does 231-Senior Suites-Garfield Ridge compare with other senior living community buildings in Chicago?

The latest disclosures cover 58 senior living community buildings in Chicago, out of 3,852 buildings citywide. 231-Senior Suites-Garfield Ridge's ENERGY STAR score of 69 compares with an average of 47 across the 55 that report a score; it scores higher than 78% of them and lower than 20%. Its site EUI of 77.0 kBtu/ft² is about 25% below the average of 103.1 kBtu/ft² — it uses less energy per square foot than the typical building in that group. Its emissions intensity of 6.3 kgCO₂e/ft² is about 25% below the group average of 8.4 kgCO₂e/ft².

At 60,000 sq ft, it is about half of the average floor area of 123,934 sq ft for those buildings. It was built in 2000, 6 years later than the group's average year built (1994). Across all 24 jurisdictions BuildingCensus covers, the 1,181 senior living community buildings average an ENERGY STAR score of 71 and a site EUI of 73.6 kBtu/ft².

How has 231-Senior Suites-Garfield Ridge's energy performance changed over time?

BuildingCensus holds 8 Chicago disclosures for 231-Senior Suites-Garfield Ridge, covering report years 2016–2023. Its ENERGY STAR score went from 45 in 2016 to 69 in 2023 (+24 points). Site EUI moved from 96.8 kBtu/ft² (2016) to 77.0 kBtu/ft² (2023), a 20% decrease. Reported emissions went from 567 tCO₂e to 379 tCO₂e over the same span (down 33%).

What does an ENERGY STAR score of 69 mean?

ENERGY STAR scores run from 1 to 100 and are computed by the EPA's Portfolio Manager as a percentile against similar buildings nationwide, adjusted for climate, size and use: a score of 69 means the building performs better than about 69% of its national peers. BuildingCensus bands the score into report-card grades; 69 falls in band C — below median (55–69). It sits 6 points below 75, the threshold for ENERGY STAR certification. In Chicago, 35% of scored buildings are at 75 or above.

Site energy-use intensity (EUI) is the energy a building uses on site in a year divided by its floor area, in thousand Btu per square foot — lower is more efficient. 231-Senior Suites-Garfield Ridge's 77.0 kBtu/ft² across 60,000 sq ft works out to about 4.6 billion Btu (1,354 MWh-equivalent) in 2023. Its source EUI of 125.6 kBtu/ft² also counts the energy lost generating and delivering that power, which is why it is higher. The disclosure also reports 449,902 kWh of electricity, 30,820 therms of natural gas and 2,741 thousand gallons of water for the year.

Which law requires 231-Senior Suites-Garfield Ridge to report its energy use?

231-Senior Suites-Garfield Ridge reports under the Building Energy Use Benchmarking Ordinance, the legal basis of the Chicago Energy Benchmarking program, which publishes each covered building's annual benchmarking results. The record shown here is the report-year 2023 disclosure (source record chicago:260088:2023). Covered buildings that fail to benchmark and report face fines of up to $100 plus $25 per day of violation under the ordinance.