Miñoso

How does Miñoso compare with other K-12 school buildings in Chicago?

The latest disclosures cover 543 K-12 school buildings in Chicago, out of 3,852 buildings citywide. Miñoso's ENERGY STAR score of 63 compares with an average of 45 across the 365 that report a score; it scores higher than 74% of them and lower than 25%. Its site EUI of 66.6 kBtu/ft² is roughly in line with the average of 72.7 kBtu/ft² — it uses less energy per square foot than the typical building in that group. Its emissions intensity of 4.7 kgCO₂e/ft² is about 24% below the group average of 6.2 kgCO₂e/ft².

At 58,108 sq ft, it is about half of the average floor area of 121,824 sq ft for those buildings. It was built in 1881, 62 years earlier than the group's average year built (1943). Across all 24 jurisdictions BuildingCensus covers, the 6,548 K-12 school buildings average an ENERGY STAR score of 64 and a site EUI of 52.7 kBtu/ft².

How has Miñoso's energy performance changed over time?

BuildingCensus holds 9 Chicago disclosures for Miñoso, covering report years 2015–2023. Its ENERGY STAR score went from 56 in 2015 to 63 in 2023 (+7 points). Site EUI moved from 82.1 kBtu/ft² (2015) to 66.6 kBtu/ft² (2023), a 19% decrease. Reported emissions went from 431 tCO₂e to 276 tCO₂e over the same span (down 36%).

What does an ENERGY STAR score of 63 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 63 means the building performs better than about 63% of its national peers. BuildingCensus bands the score into report-card grades; 63 falls in band C — below median (55–69). It sits 12 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. Miñoso's 66.6 kBtu/ft² across 58,108 sq ft works out to about 3.9 billion Btu (1,134 MWh-equivalent) in 2023. Its source EUI of 94.4 kBtu/ft² also counts the energy lost generating and delivering that power, which is why it is higher. The disclosure also reports 237,263 kWh of electricity and 30,630 therms of natural gas for the year.

Which law requires Miñoso to report its energy use?

Miñoso 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:251395:2023). Covered buildings that fail to benchmark and report face fines of up to $100 plus $25 per day of violation under the ordinance.