Hanson Park

How does Hanson Park 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. Hanson Park's ENERGY STAR score of 97 compares with an average of 45 across the 365 that report a score; it scores higher than 98% of them and lower than 2%. Its site EUI of 29.6 kBtu/ft² is about 59% 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 2.3 kgCO₂e/ft² is about 63% below the group average of 6.2 kgCO₂e/ft².

At 132,816 sq ft, it is roughly in line with the average floor area of 121,824 sq ft for those buildings. It was built in 1959, 16 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 Hanson Park's energy performance changed over time?

BuildingCensus holds 9 Chicago disclosures for Hanson Park, covering report years 2015–2023. Its ENERGY STAR score went from 90 in 2015 to 97 in 2023 (+7 points). Site EUI moved from 59.7 kBtu/ft² (2015) to 29.6 kBtu/ft² (2023), a 50% decrease. Reported emissions went from 716 tCO₂e to 307 tCO₂e over the same span (down 57%).

What does an ENERGY STAR score of 97 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 97 means the building performs better than about 97% of its national peers. BuildingCensus bands the score into report-card grades; 97 falls in band A — high performer (85–100). 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. Hanson Park's 29.6 kBtu/ft² across 132,816 sq ft works out to about 3.9 billion Btu (1,152 MWh-equivalent) in 2023. Its source EUI of 46.0 kBtu/ft² also counts the energy lost generating and delivering that power, which is why it is higher. The disclosure also reports 331,548 kWh of electricity and 28,039 therms of natural gas for the year.

Which law requires Hanson Park to report its energy use?

Hanson Park 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:251616:2023). Covered buildings that fail to benchmark and report face fines of up to $100 plus $25 per day of violation under the ordinance.