Hale

How does Hale 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. Hale's ENERGY STAR score of 73 compares with an average of 45 across the 365 that report a score; it scores higher than 83% of them and lower than 15%. Its site EUI of 58.5 kBtu/ft² is about 20% 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 4.2 kgCO₂e/ft² is about 32% below the group average of 6.2 kgCO₂e/ft².

At 99,233 sq ft, it is about 19% below the average floor area of 121,824 sq ft for those buildings. It was built in 1953, 10 years later 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 Hale's energy performance changed over time?

BuildingCensus holds 9 Chicago disclosures for Hale, covering report years 2015–2023. Its ENERGY STAR score went from 89 in 2015 to 73 in 2023 (-16 points); its best year on file was 2016, at 91. Site EUI moved from 52.8 kBtu/ft² (2015) to 58.5 kBtu/ft² (2023), an 11% increase. Reported emissions went from 474 tCO₂e to 417 tCO₂e over the same span (down 12%).

What does an ENERGY STAR score of 73 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 73 means the building performs better than about 73% of its national peers. BuildingCensus bands the score into report-card grades; 73 falls in band B — above median (70–84). It sits 2 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. Hale's 58.5 kBtu/ft² across 99,233 sq ft works out to about 5.8 billion Btu (1,701 MWh-equivalent) in 2023. Its source EUI of 83.4 kBtu/ft² also counts the energy lost generating and delivering that power, which is why it is higher. The disclosure also reports 365,318 kWh of electricity and 45,597 therms of natural gas for the year.

Which law requires Hale to report its energy use?

Hale 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:251394:2023). Covered buildings that fail to benchmark and report face fines of up to $100 plus $25 per day of violation under the ordinance.