Delmar Apartments

How does Delmar 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. Delmar Apartments's ENERGY STAR score of 83 compares with an average of 62 across the 1,472 that report a score; it scores higher than 70% of them and lower than 29%. Its site EUI of 90.8 kBtu/ft² is about 26% 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 7.0 kgCO₂e/ft² is about 21% above the group average of 5.8 kgCO₂e/ft².

At 58,772 sq ft, it is about 71% below the average floor area of 206,097 sq ft for those buildings. It was built in 1920, 51 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 Delmar Apartments's energy performance changed over time?

BuildingCensus holds 8 Chicago disclosures for Delmar Apartments, covering report years 2016–2023. Its ENERGY STAR score went from 87 in 2016 to 83 in 2023 (-4 points); its best year on file was 2021, at 90. Site EUI moved from 81.8 kBtu/ft² (2016) to 90.8 kBtu/ft² (2023), an 11% increase. Reported emissions went from 495 tCO₂e to 410 tCO₂e over the same span (down 17%).

What does an ENERGY STAR score of 83 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 83 means the building performs better than about 83% of its national peers. BuildingCensus bands the score into report-card grades; 83 falls in band B — above median (70–84). 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. Delmar Apartments's 90.8 kBtu/ft² across 58,772 sq ft works out to about 5.3 billion Btu (1,564 MWh-equivalent) in 2023. Its source EUI of 138.8 kBtu/ft² also counts the energy lost generating and delivering that power, which is why it is higher. The disclosure also reports 427,964 kWh of electricity, 38,769 therms of natural gas and 9,810 thousand gallons of water for the year.

Which law requires Delmar Apartments to report its energy use?

Delmar 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:252286:2023). Covered buildings that fail to benchmark and report face fines of up to $100 plus $25 per day of violation under the ordinance.