Strand Apartments

How does Strand Apartments 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. Strand Apartments's ENERGY STAR score of 100 compares with an average of 62 across the 1,472 that report a score; it scores higher than 97% of them. Its site EUI of 27.9 kBtu/ft² is about 61% 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 2.4 kgCO₂e/ft² is about 59% below the group average of 5.8 kgCO₂e/ft².

At 96,275 sq ft, it is about half of the average floor area of 206,097 sq ft for those buildings. It was built in 2015, 44 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 Strand Apartments's energy performance changed over time?

BuildingCensus holds 7 Chicago disclosures for Strand Apartments, covering report years 2016–2022. Its ENERGY STAR score went from 99 in 2016 to 100 in 2022 (+1 points). Site EUI moved from 38.2 kBtu/ft² (2016) to 27.9 kBtu/ft² (2022), a 27% decrease. Reported emissions went from 324 tCO₂e to 214 tCO₂e over the same span (down 34%).

What does an ENERGY STAR score of 100 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: 100 is the top of the scale. BuildingCensus bands the score into report-card grades; 100 falls in band A — high performer (85–100). 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. Strand Apartments's 27.9 kBtu/ft² across 96,275 sq ft works out to about 2.7 billion Btu (787 MWh-equivalent) in 2022. Its source EUI of 50.8 kBtu/ft² also counts the energy lost generating and delivering that power, which is why it is higher. The disclosure also reports 314,340 kWh of electricity and 13,642 therms of natural gas for the year.

Which law requires Strand Apartments to report its energy use?

Strand Apartments 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 2022 disclosure (source record chicago:254527:2022). Covered buildings that fail to benchmark and report face fines of up to $100 plus $25 per day of violation under the ordinance.