236-Senior Suites of Rainbow Beach

How does 236-Senior Suites of Rainbow Beach 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. 236-Senior Suites of Rainbow Beach's ENERGY STAR score of 26 compares with an average of 47 across the 55 that report a score; it scores higher than 27% of them and lower than 71%. Its site EUI of 83.7 kBtu/ft² is about 19% 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 6.4 kgCO₂e/ft² is about 24% below the group average of 8.4 kgCO₂e/ft².

At 60,500 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 236-Senior Suites of Rainbow Beach's energy performance changed over time?

BuildingCensus holds 8 Chicago disclosures for 236-Senior Suites of Rainbow Beach, covering report years 2016–2023. Its ENERGY STAR score was 26 in both 2016 and 2023. Site EUI moved from 79.8 kBtu/ft² (2016) to 83.7 kBtu/ft² (2023), an 5% increase. Reported emissions went from 495 tCO₂e to 387 tCO₂e over the same span (down 22%).

What does an ENERGY STAR score of 26 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 26 means the building performs better than about 26% of its national peers. BuildingCensus bands the score into report-card grades; 26 falls in band D — lowest band (1–54). It sits 49 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. 236-Senior Suites of Rainbow Beach's 83.7 kBtu/ft² across 60,500 sq ft works out to about 5.1 billion Btu (1,484 MWh-equivalent) in 2023. Its source EUI of 127.1 kBtu/ft² also counts the energy lost generating and delivering that power, which is why it is higher. The disclosure also reports 398,025 kWh of electricity, 37,032 therms of natural gas and 4,563 thousand gallons of water for the year.

Which law requires 236-Senior Suites of Rainbow Beach to report its energy use?

236-Senior Suites of Rainbow Beach 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:260074:2023). Covered buildings that fail to benchmark and report face fines of up to $100 plus $25 per day of violation under the ordinance.