232-Senior Suites of Washington Heights

How does 232-Senior Suites of Washington Heights 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. 232-Senior Suites of Washington Heights's ENERGY STAR score of 44 compares with an average of 47 across the 55 that report a score; it scores higher than 45% of them and lower than 49%. Its site EUI of 96.2 kBtu/ft² is roughly in line with 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 7.1 kgCO₂e/ft² is about 15% below the group average of 8.4 kgCO₂e/ft².

At 65,505 sq ft, it is about half of the average floor area of 123,934 sq ft for those buildings. It was built in 2001, 7 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 232-Senior Suites of Washington Heights's energy performance changed over time?

BuildingCensus holds 8 Chicago disclosures for 232-Senior Suites of Washington Heights, covering report years 2016–2023. Its ENERGY STAR score went from 29 in 2016 to 44 in 2023 (+15 points); its best year on file was 2021, at 50. Site EUI moved from 111.9 kBtu/ft² (2016) to 96.2 kBtu/ft² (2023), a 14% decrease. Reported emissions went from 636 tCO₂e to 464 tCO₂e over the same span (down 27%).

What does an ENERGY STAR score of 44 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 44 means the building performs better than about 44% of its national peers. BuildingCensus bands the score into report-card grades; 44 falls in band D — lowest band (1–54). It sits 31 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. 232-Senior Suites of Washington Heights's 96.2 kBtu/ft² across 65,505 sq ft works out to about 6.3 billion Btu (1,847 MWh-equivalent) in 2023. Its source EUI of 140.8 kBtu/ft² also counts the energy lost generating and delivering that power, which is why it is higher. The disclosure also reports 436,796 kWh of electricity, 48,098 therms of natural gas and 5,092 thousand gallons of water for the year.

Which law requires 232-Senior Suites of Washington Heights to report its energy use?

232-Senior Suites of Washington Heights 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:172640:2023). Covered buildings that fail to benchmark and report face fines of up to $100 plus $25 per day of violation under the ordinance.