Irene McCoy Gaines Apartments

How does Irene McCoy Gaines 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. Irene McCoy Gaines Apartments's ENERGY STAR score of 91 compares with an average of 62 across the 1,472 that report a score; it scores higher than 82% of them and lower than 16%. Its site EUI of 59.2 kBtu/ft² is about 18% 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 4.4 kgCO₂e/ft² is about 24% below the group average of 5.8 kgCO₂e/ft².

At 117,963 sq ft, it is about 43% below the average floor area of 206,097 sq ft for those buildings. It was built in 1964, 7 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 Irene McCoy Gaines Apartments's energy performance changed over time?

BuildingCensus holds 8 Chicago disclosures for Irene McCoy Gaines Apartments, covering report years 2016–2023. Its ENERGY STAR score went from 65 in 2016 to 91 in 2023 (+26 points). Site EUI moved from 89.9 kBtu/ft² (2016) to 59.2 kBtu/ft² (2023), a 34% decrease. Reported emissions went from 841 tCO₂e to 523 tCO₂e over the same span (down 38%).

What does an ENERGY STAR score of 91 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 91 means the building performs better than about 91% of its national peers. BuildingCensus bands the score into report-card grades; 91 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. Irene McCoy Gaines Apartments's 59.2 kBtu/ft² across 117,963 sq ft works out to about 7 billion Btu (2,047 MWh-equivalent) in 2023. Its source EUI of 88.1 kBtu/ft² also counts the energy lost generating and delivering that power, which is why it is higher. The disclosure also reports 513,559 kWh of electricity and 52,289 therms of natural gas for the year.

Which law requires Irene McCoy Gaines Apartments to report its energy use?

Irene McCoy Gaines 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:250090:2023). Covered buildings that fail to benchmark and report face fines of up to $100 plus $25 per day of violation under the ordinance.