Nobel

How does Nobel 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. Nobel's ENERGY STAR score of 34 compares with an average of 45 across the 365 that report a score; it scores higher than 38% of them and lower than 61%. Its site EUI of 79.5 kBtu/ft² is roughly in line with the average of 72.7 kBtu/ft². Its emissions intensity of 6.3 kgCO₂e/ft² is roughly in line with the group average of 6.2 kgCO₂e/ft².

At 75,800 sq ft, it is about 38% below the average floor area of 121,824 sq ft for those buildings. It was built in 1910, 33 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 Nobel's energy performance changed over time?

BuildingCensus holds 9 Chicago disclosures for Nobel, covering report years 2015–2023. Its ENERGY STAR score went from 55 in 2015 to 34 in 2023 (-21 points); its best year on file was 2017, at 59. Site EUI moved from 76.3 kBtu/ft² (2015) to 79.5 kBtu/ft² (2023), an 4% increase. Reported emissions went from 598 tCO₂e to 481 tCO₂e over the same span (down 20%).

What does an ENERGY STAR score of 34 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 34 means the building performs better than about 34% of its national peers. BuildingCensus bands the score into report-card grades; 34 falls in band D — lowest band (1–54). It sits 41 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. Nobel's 79.5 kBtu/ft² across 75,800 sq ft works out to about 6 billion Btu (1,766 MWh-equivalent) in 2023. Its source EUI of 126.4 kBtu/ft² also counts the energy lost generating and delivering that power, which is why it is higher. The disclosure also reports 544,531 kWh of electricity and 41,672 therms of natural gas for the year.

Which law requires Nobel to report its energy use?

Nobel 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:251589:2023). Covered buildings that fail to benchmark and report face fines of up to $100 plus $25 per day of violation under the ordinance.