Darwin

How does Darwin compare with other K-12 school buildings in Chicago?

The latest disclosures cover 543 K-12 school buildings in Chicago, out of 3,852 buildings citywide. Darwin's ENERGY STAR score of 60 compares with an average of 45 across the 365 that report a score; it scores higher than 71% of them and lower than 29%. Its site EUI of 51.8 kBtu/ft² is about 29% below the average of 72.7 kBtu/ft² — it uses less energy per square foot than the typical building in that group. Its emissions intensity of 4.8 kgCO₂e/ft² is about 23% below the group average of 6.2 kgCO₂e/ft².

At 121,241 sq ft, it is roughly in line with the average floor area of 121,824 sq ft for those buildings. It was built in 1900, 43 years earlier than the group's average year built (1943). Across all 24 jurisdictions BuildingCensus covers, the 6,548 K-12 school buildings average an ENERGY STAR score of 64 and a site EUI of 52.7 kBtu/ft².

How has Darwin's energy performance changed over time?

BuildingCensus holds 6 Chicago disclosures for Darwin, covering report years 2018–2023. Its ENERGY STAR score went from 62 in 2020 to 60 in 2023 (-2 points); its best year on file was 2020, at 62. Site EUI moved from 53.9 kBtu/ft² (2020) to 51.8 kBtu/ft² (2023), a 4% decrease. Reported emissions went from 669 tCO₂e to 588 tCO₂e over the same span (down 12%).

What does an ENERGY STAR score of 60 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 60 means the building performs better than about 60% of its national peers. BuildingCensus bands the score into report-card grades; 60 falls in band C — below median (55–69). It sits 15 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. Darwin's 51.8 kBtu/ft² across 121,241 sq ft works out to about 6.3 billion Btu (1,841 MWh-equivalent) in 2023. Its source EUI of 96.7 kBtu/ft² also counts the energy lost generating and delivering that power, which is why it is higher. The disclosure also reports 859,118 kWh of electricity and 33,434 therms of natural gas for the year.

Which law requires Darwin to report its energy use?

Darwin 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:251677:2023). Covered buildings that fail to benchmark and report face fines of up to $100 plus $25 per day of violation under the ordinance.