Lawndale Gardens

How does Lawndale Gardens 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. Lawndale Gardens's ENERGY STAR score of 13 compares with an average of 62 across the 1,472 that report a score; it scores higher than 6% of them and lower than 93%. Its site EUI of 126.3 kBtu/ft² is about 75% above the average of 72.0 kBtu/ft² — it uses more energy per square foot than the typical building in that group. Its emissions intensity of 9.0 kgCO₂e/ft² is about 55% above the group average of 5.8 kgCO₂e/ft².

At 99,462 sq ft, it is about half of the average floor area of 206,097 sq ft for those buildings. It was built in 1943, 28 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 Lawndale Gardens's energy performance changed over time?

BuildingCensus holds 8 Chicago disclosures for Lawndale Gardens, covering report years 2016–2023. Its ENERGY STAR score went from 15 in 2016 to 13 in 2023 (-2 points); its best year on file was 2022, at 33. Site EUI moved from 129.8 kBtu/ft² (2016) to 126.3 kBtu/ft² (2023), a 3% decrease. Reported emissions went from 1,069 tCO₂e to 895 tCO₂e over the same span (down 16%).

What does an ENERGY STAR score of 13 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 13 means the building performs better than about 13% of its national peers. BuildingCensus bands the score into report-card grades; 13 falls in band D — lowest band (1–54). It sits 62 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. Lawndale Gardens's 126.3 kBtu/ft² across 99,462 sq ft works out to about 12.6 billion Btu (3,682 MWh-equivalent) in 2023. Its source EUI of 178.8 kBtu/ft² also counts the energy lost generating and delivering that power, which is why it is higher. The disclosure also reports 769,140 kWh of electricity and 99,402 therms of natural gas for the year.

Which law requires Lawndale Gardens to report its energy use?

Lawndale Gardens 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:250074:2023). Covered buildings that fail to benchmark and report face fines of up to $100 plus $25 per day of violation under the ordinance.