Northwest Home for the Aged

How does Northwest Home for the Aged compare with other senior living community buildings in Chicago?

The latest disclosures cover 58 senior living community buildings in Chicago, out of 3,852 buildings citywide. Northwest Home for the Aged's ENERGY STAR score of 18 compares with an average of 47 across the 55 that report a score; it scores higher than 16% of them and lower than 82%. Its site EUI of 87.5 kBtu/ft² is about 15% below the average of 103.1 kBtu/ft² — it uses less energy per square foot than the typical building in that group. Its emissions intensity of 8.0 kgCO₂e/ft² is roughly in line with the group average of 8.4 kgCO₂e/ft².

At 150,000 sq ft, it is about 21% above the average floor area of 123,934 sq ft for those buildings. It was built in 1985, 9 years earlier than the group's average year built (1994). Across all 24 jurisdictions BuildingCensus covers, the 1,181 senior living community buildings average an ENERGY STAR score of 71 and a site EUI of 73.6 kBtu/ft².

How has Northwest Home for the Aged's energy performance changed over time?

BuildingCensus holds 7 Chicago disclosures for Northwest Home for the Aged, covering report years 2017–2023. Its ENERGY STAR score went from 36 in 2017 to 18 in 2023 (-18 points); its best year on file was 2017, at 36. Site EUI moved from 78.5 kBtu/ft² (2017) to 87.5 kBtu/ft² (2023), an 11% increase. Reported emissions went from 1,595 tCO₂e to 1,201 tCO₂e over the same span (down 25%).

What does an ENERGY STAR score of 18 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 18 means the building performs better than about 18% of its national peers. BuildingCensus bands the score into report-card grades; 18 falls in band D — lowest band (1–54). It sits 57 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. Northwest Home for the Aged's 87.5 kBtu/ft² across 150,000 sq ft works out to about 13.1 billion Btu (3,847 MWh-equivalent) in 2023. Its source EUI of 159.6 kBtu/ft² also counts the energy lost generating and delivering that power, which is why it is higher. The disclosure also reports 1,699,118 kWh of electricity and 73,343 therms of natural gas for the year.

Which law requires Northwest Home for the Aged to report its energy use?

Northwest Home for the Aged 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:159963:2023). Covered buildings that fail to benchmark and report face fines of up to $100 plus $25 per day of violation under the ordinance.