Peirce

How does Peirce 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. Peirce's ENERGY STAR score of 9 compares with an average of 45 across the 365 that report a score; it scores higher than 7% of them and lower than 92%. Its site EUI of 103.7 kBtu/ft² is about 43% above the average of 72.7 kBtu/ft² — it uses more energy per square foot than the typical building in that group. Its emissions intensity of 8.9 kgCO₂e/ft² is about 44% above the group average of 6.2 kgCO₂e/ft².

At 133,238 sq ft, it is roughly in line with the average floor area of 121,824 sq ft for those buildings. It was built in 1915, 28 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 Peirce's energy performance changed over time?

BuildingCensus holds 9 Chicago disclosures for Peirce, covering report years 2015–2023. Its ENERGY STAR score went from 84 in 2015 to 9 in 2023 (-75 points); its best year on file was 2015, at 84. Site EUI moved from 30.7 kBtu/ft² (2015) to 103.7 kBtu/ft² (2023), an 238% increase. Reported emissions went from 769 tCO₂e to 1,189 tCO₂e over the same span (up 55%).

What does an ENERGY STAR score of 9 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 9 means the building performs better than about 9% of its national peers. BuildingCensus bands the score into report-card grades; 9 falls in band D — lowest band (1–54). It sits 66 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. Peirce's 103.7 kBtu/ft² across 133,238 sq ft works out to about 13.8 billion Btu (4,049 MWh-equivalent) in 2023. Its source EUI of 177.7 kBtu/ft² also counts the energy lost generating and delivering that power, which is why it is higher. The disclosure also reports 1,535,692 kWh of electricity and 85,761 therms of natural gas for the year.

Which law requires Peirce to report its energy use?

Peirce 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:251687:2023). Covered buildings that fail to benchmark and report face fines of up to $100 plus $25 per day of violation under the ordinance.