Lafayette Terrace Apartments benchmarking account

How does Lafayette Terrace Apartments benchmarking account 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. Lafayette Terrace Apartments benchmarking account's ENERGY STAR score of 90 compares with an average of 62 across the 1,472 that report a score; it scores higher than 81% of them and lower than 18%. Its site EUI of 52.0 kBtu/ft² is about 28% 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 6.1 kgCO₂e/ft² is roughly in line with the group average of 5.8 kgCO₂e/ft².

At 50,388 sq ft, it is about 76% below the average floor area of 206,097 sq ft for those buildings. It was built in 1983, 12 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 Lafayette Terrace Apartments benchmarking account's energy performance changed over time?

BuildingCensus holds 8 Chicago disclosures for Lafayette Terrace Apartments benchmarking account, covering report years 2016–2023. Its ENERGY STAR score went from 82 in 2016 to 90 in 2023 (+8 points); its best year on file was 2021, at 99. Site EUI moved from 64.5 kBtu/ft² (2016) to 52.0 kBtu/ft² (2023), a 19% decrease. Reported emissions went from 442 tCO₂e to 308 tCO₂e over the same span (down 30%).

What does an ENERGY STAR score of 90 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 90 means the building performs better than about 90% of its national peers. BuildingCensus bands the score into report-card grades; 90 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. Lafayette Terrace Apartments benchmarking account's 52.0 kBtu/ft² across 50,388 sq ft works out to about 2.6 billion Btu (768 MWh-equivalent) in 2023. Its source EUI of 122.2 kBtu/ft² also counts the energy lost generating and delivering that power, which is why it is higher. The disclosure also reports 570,609 kWh of electricity, 6,734 therms of natural gas and 1,875 thousand gallons of water for the year.

Which law requires Lafayette Terrace Apartments benchmarking account to report its energy use?

Lafayette Terrace Apartments benchmarking account 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:116418:2023). Covered buildings that fail to benchmark and report face fines of up to $100 plus $25 per day of violation under the ordinance.