Chicago Swissotel

How does Chicago Swissotel compare with other hotel buildings in Chicago?

The latest disclosures cover 88 hotel buildings in Chicago, out of 3,852 buildings citywide. Chicago Swissotel's ENERGY STAR score of 69 compares with an average of 51 across the 77 that report a score; it scores higher than 71% of them and lower than 27%. Its site EUI of 87.3 kBtu/ft² is about 21% below the average of 110.1 kBtu/ft² — it uses less energy per square foot than the typical building in that group. Its emissions intensity of 8.2 kgCO₂e/ft² is about 19% below the group average of 10.1 kgCO₂e/ft².

At 712,669 sq ft, it is about twice the average floor area of 343,808 sq ft for those buildings. It was built in 1988, 9 years later than the group's average year built (1979). Across all 24 jurisdictions BuildingCensus covers, the 3,812 hotel buildings average an ENERGY STAR score of 65 and a site EUI of 77.8 kBtu/ft².

How has Chicago Swissotel's energy performance changed over time?

BuildingCensus holds 8 Chicago disclosures for Chicago Swissotel, covering report years 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023. Its ENERGY STAR score went from 55 in 2015 to 69 in 2023 (+14 points); its best year on file was 2022, at 87. Site EUI moved from 90.9 kBtu/ft² (2015) to 87.3 kBtu/ft² (2023), a 4% decrease. Reported emissions went from 9,365 tCO₂e to 5,864 tCO₂e over the same span (down 37%).

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. Chicago Swissotel's 87.3 kBtu/ft² across 712,669 sq ft works out to about 62.2 billion Btu (18,234 MWh-equivalent) in 2023. Its source EUI of 164.1 kBtu/ft² also counts the energy lost generating and delivering that power, which is why it is higher. The disclosure also reports 8,640,342 kWh of electricity, 327,397 therms of natural gas and 10,599 thousand gallons of water for the year.

Which law requires Chicago Swissotel to report its energy use?

Chicago Swissotel 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:158219:2023). Covered buildings that fail to benchmark and report face fines of up to $100 plus $25 per day of violation under the ordinance.