Cascade

How does Cascade 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. Cascade's ENERGY STAR score of 86 compares with an average of 62 across the 1,472 that report a score; it scores higher than 75% of them and lower than 24%. Its site EUI of 50.0 kBtu/ft² is about 31% below the average of 72.0 kBtu/ft² — it uses less energy per square foot than the typical building in that group. Its emissions intensity of 4.9 kgCO₂e/ft² is about 16% below the group average of 5.8 kgCO₂e/ft².

At 507,390 sq ft, it is about 146% above the average floor area of 206,097 sq ft for those buildings. It was built in 2021, 50 years later 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 Cascade's energy performance changed over time?

BuildingCensus holds 2 Chicago disclosures for Cascade, covering report years 2022–2023. Its ENERGY STAR score went from 83 in 2022 to 86 in 2023 (+3 points). Site EUI moved from 64.3 kBtu/ft² (2022) to 50.0 kBtu/ft² (2023), a 22% decrease. Reported emissions went from 2,795 tCO₂e to 2,504 tCO₂e over the same span (down 10%).

What does an ENERGY STAR score of 86 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 86 means the building performs better than about 86% of its national peers. BuildingCensus bands the score into report-card grades; 86 falls in band A — high performer (85–100). Scores of 75 or higher meet the threshold for ENERGY STAR certification; certification itself is a separate, verified application that the disclosure does not record. 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. Cascade's 50.0 kBtu/ft² across 507,390 sq ft works out to about 25.4 billion Btu (7,435 MWh-equivalent) in 2023. Its source EUI of 98.4 kBtu/ft² also counts the energy lost generating and delivering that power, which is why it is higher. The disclosure also reports 3,902,965 kWh of electricity, 120,522 therms of natural gas and 14,003 thousand gallons of water for the year.

Which law requires Cascade to report its energy use?

Cascade 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:256890:2023). Covered buildings that fail to benchmark and report face fines of up to $100 plus $25 per day of violation under the ordinance.