Taft HS

How does Taft HS 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. Taft HS's ENERGY STAR score of 94 compares with an average of 45 across the 365 that report a score; it scores higher than 96% of them and lower than 3%. Its site EUI of 37.4 kBtu/ft² is about half of 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 3.1 kgCO₂e/ft² is about half of the group average of 6.2 kgCO₂e/ft².

At 388,970 sq ft, it is about 219% above the average floor area of 121,824 sq ft for those buildings. It was built in 1939, 4 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 Taft HS's energy performance changed over time?

BuildingCensus holds 10 Chicago disclosures for Taft HS, covering report years 2014–2023. Its ENERGY STAR score went from 82 in 2014 to 94 in 2023 (+12 points). Site EUI moved from 65.0 kBtu/ft² (2014) to 37.4 kBtu/ft² (2023), a 42% decrease. Reported emissions went from 2,875 tCO₂e to 1,198 tCO₂e over the same span (down 58%).

What does an ENERGY STAR score of 94 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 94 means the building performs better than about 94% of its national peers. BuildingCensus bands the score into report-card grades; 94 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. Taft HS's 37.4 kBtu/ft² across 388,970 sq ft works out to about 14.5 billion Btu (4,263 MWh-equivalent) in 2023. Its source EUI of 61.3 kBtu/ft² also counts the energy lost generating and delivering that power, which is why it is higher. The disclosure also reports 1,439,642 kWh of electricity and 96,209 therms of natural gas for the year.

Which law requires Taft HS to report its energy use?

Taft HS 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:250053:2023). Covered buildings that fail to benchmark and report face fines of up to $100 plus $25 per day of violation under the ordinance.