Letterman Chicago

How does Letterman Chicago 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. Letterman Chicago's ENERGY STAR score of 80 compares with an average of 62 across the 1,472 that report a score; it scores higher than 66% of them and lower than 33%. Its site EUI of 63.1 kBtu/ft² is about 12% 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 6.2 kgCO₂e/ft² is roughly in line with the group average of 5.8 kgCO₂e/ft².

At 225,000 sq ft, it is roughly in line with the average floor area of 206,097 sq ft for those buildings. It was built in 2006, 35 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 Letterman Chicago's energy performance changed over time?

BuildingCensus holds 8 Chicago disclosures for Letterman Chicago, covering report years 2016–2023. Site EUI moved from 89.5 kBtu/ft² (2016) to 63.1 kBtu/ft² (2023), a 29% decrease. Reported emissions went from 2,098 tCO₂e to 1,391 tCO₂e over the same span (down 34%).

What does an ENERGY STAR score of 80 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 80 means the building performs better than about 80% of its national peers. BuildingCensus bands the score into report-card grades; 80 falls in band B — above median (70–84). 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. Letterman Chicago's 63.1 kBtu/ft² across 225,000 sq ft works out to about 14.2 billion Btu (4,161 MWh-equivalent) in 2023. Its source EUI of 123.3 kBtu/ft² also counts the energy lost generating and delivering that power, which is why it is higher. The disclosure also reports 2,150,285 kWh of electricity and 68,665 therms of natural gas for the year.

Which law requires Letterman Chicago to report its energy use?

Letterman Chicago 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:174323:2023). Covered buildings that fail to benchmark and report face fines of up to $100 plus $25 per day of violation under the ordinance.