Grand & Orleans

How does Grand & Orleans 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. Grand & Orleans's ENERGY STAR score of 80 compares with an average of 62 across the 1,472 that report a score; it scores higher than 66% of them and lower than 33%. Its site EUI of 56.9 kBtu/ft² is about 21% 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 4.8 kgCO₂e/ft² is about 17% below the group average of 5.8 kgCO₂e/ft².

At 209,000 sq ft, it is roughly in line with the average floor area of 206,097 sq ft for those buildings. It was built in 2005, 34 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 Grand & Orleans's energy performance changed over time?

BuildingCensus holds 4 Chicago disclosures for Grand & Orleans, covering report years 2020–2023. Its ENERGY STAR score went from 74 in 2020 to 80 in 2023 (+6 points). Site EUI moved from 63.8 kBtu/ft² (2020) to 56.9 kBtu/ft² (2023), a 11% decrease. Reported emissions went from 1,192 tCO₂e to 1,002 tCO₂e over the same span (down 16%).

What does an ENERGY STAR score of 80 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 80 means the building performs better than about 80% of its national peers. BuildingCensus bands the score into report-card grades; 80 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. Grand & Orleans's 56.9 kBtu/ft² across 209,000 sq ft works out to about 11.9 billion Btu (3,485 MWh-equivalent) in 2023. Its source EUI of 95.4 kBtu/ft² also counts the energy lost generating and delivering that power, which is why it is higher. The disclosure also reports 1,249,909 kWh of electricity and 76,235 therms of natural gas for the year.

Which law requires Grand & Orleans to report its energy use?

Grand & Orleans 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:256616:2023). Covered buildings that fail to benchmark and report face fines of up to $100 plus $25 per day of violation under the ordinance.