Beachwalk Apartments

How does Beachwalk Apartments compare with other multifamily housing buildings in Chicago?

The latest disclosures cover 1,515 multifamily housing buildings in Chicago, out of 3,852 buildings citywide. Beachwalk Apartments's ENERGY STAR score of 72 compares with an average of 62 across the 1,472 that report a score; it scores higher than 56% of them and lower than 43%. Its site EUI of 92.8 kBtu/ft² is about 29% above the average of 72.0 kBtu/ft² — it uses more energy per square foot than the typical building in that group. Its emissions intensity of 6.4 kgCO₂e/ft² is about 10% above the group average of 5.8 kgCO₂e/ft².

At 60,000 sq ft, it is about 71% below the average floor area of 206,097 sq ft for those buildings. It was built in 1924, 47 years earlier than the group's average year built (1971). Across all 24 jurisdictions BuildingCensus covers, the 59,945 multifamily housing buildings average an ENERGY STAR score of 70 and a site EUI of 59.0 kBtu/ft².

How has Beachwalk Apartments's energy performance changed over time?

BuildingCensus holds 8 Chicago disclosures for Beachwalk Apartments, covering report years 2016–2023. Its ENERGY STAR score went from 73 in 2016 to 72 in 2023 (-1 points); its best year on file was 2018, at 80. Site EUI moved from 94.0 kBtu/ft² (2016) to 92.8 kBtu/ft² (2023), a 1% decrease. Reported emissions went from 469 tCO₂e to 385 tCO₂e over the same span (down 18%).

What does an ENERGY STAR score of 72 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 72 means the building performs better than about 72% of its national peers. BuildingCensus bands the score into report-card grades; 72 falls in band B — above median (70–84). It sits 3 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. Beachwalk Apartments's 92.8 kBtu/ft² across 60,000 sq ft works out to about 5.6 billion Btu (1,632 MWh-equivalent) in 2023. Its source EUI of 127.4 kBtu/ft² also counts the energy lost generating and delivering that power, which is why it is higher. The disclosure also reports 301,624 kWh of electricity and 45,373 therms of natural gas for the year.

Which law requires Beachwalk Apartments to report its energy use?

Beachwalk Apartments 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:173730:2023). Covered buildings that fail to benchmark and report face fines of up to $100 plus $25 per day of violation under the ordinance.