International House

How does International House compare with other residence hall/dormitory buildings in Chicago?

The latest disclosures cover 25 residence hall/dormitory buildings in Chicago, out of 3,852 buildings citywide. International House's ENERGY STAR score of 74 compares with an average of 64 across the 18 that report a score; it scores higher than 67% of them and lower than 22%. Its site EUI of 80.8 kBtu/ft² is roughly in line with the average of 83.6 kBtu/ft² — it uses less energy per square foot than the typical building in that group. Its emissions intensity of 6.6 kgCO₂e/ft² is roughly in line with the group average of 7.1 kgCO₂e/ft².

At 237,121 sq ft, it is about 41% above the average floor area of 167,953 sq ft for those buildings. It was built in 1932, 44 years earlier than the group's average year built (1977). Across all 24 jurisdictions BuildingCensus covers, the 702 residence hall/dormitory buildings average an ENERGY STAR score of 70 and a site EUI of 70.7 kBtu/ft².

How has International House's energy performance changed over time?

BuildingCensus holds 8 Chicago disclosures for International House, covering report years 2016–2023. Its ENERGY STAR score went from 66 in 2016 to 74 in 2023 (+8 points); its best year on file was 2017, at 83. Site EUI moved from 70.4 kBtu/ft² (2016) to 80.8 kBtu/ft² (2023), an 15% increase. Reported emissions went from 1,951 tCO₂e to 1,564 tCO₂e over the same span (down 20%).

What does an ENERGY STAR score of 74 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 74 means the building performs better than about 74% of its national peers. BuildingCensus bands the score into report-card grades; 74 falls in band B — above median (70–84). It sits 1 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. International House's 80.8 kBtu/ft² across 237,121 sq ft works out to about 19.2 billion Btu (5,615 MWh-equivalent) in 2023. Its source EUI of 124.2 kBtu/ft² also counts the energy lost generating and delivering that power, which is why it is higher. The disclosure also reports 1,223,998 kWh of electricity, 4,743 therms of natural gas and 5,728 thousand gallons of water for the year.

Which law requires International House to report its energy use?

International House 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:254181:2023). Covered buildings that fail to benchmark and report face fines of up to $100 plus $25 per day of violation under the ordinance.