The Franklin (227 West Monroe; 222 West Adams)

How does The Franklin (227 West Monroe; 222 West Adams) compare with other office buildings in Chicago?

The latest disclosures cover 387 office buildings in Chicago, out of 3,852 buildings citywide. The Franklin (227 West Monroe; 222 West Adams)'s ENERGY STAR score of 88 compares with an average of 69 across the 320 that report a score; it scores higher than 86% of them and lower than 12%. Its site EUI of 35.6 kBtu/ft² is about half of the average of 70.4 kBtu/ft² — it uses less energy per square foot than the typical building in that group. Its emissions intensity of 5.0 kgCO₂e/ft² is about 33% below the group average of 7.5 kgCO₂e/ft².

At 2,967,721 sq ft, it is about 508% above the average floor area of 488,124 sq ft for those buildings. It was built in 1989, 33 years later than the group's average year built (1957). Across all 24 jurisdictions BuildingCensus covers, the 15,264 office buildings average an ENERGY STAR score of 73 and a site EUI of 59.3 kBtu/ft².

How has The Franklin (227 West Monroe; 222 West Adams)'s energy performance changed over time?

BuildingCensus holds 10 Chicago disclosures for The Franklin (227 West Monroe; 222 West Adams), covering report years 2014–2023. Its ENERGY STAR score went from 79 in 2014 to 88 in 2023 (+9 points). Site EUI moved from 63.0 kBtu/ft² (2014) to 35.6 kBtu/ft² (2023), a 43% decrease. Reported emissions went from 43,039 tCO₂e to 14,740 tCO₂e over the same span (down 66%).

What does an ENERGY STAR score of 88 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 88 means the building performs better than about 88% of its national peers. BuildingCensus bands the score into report-card grades; 88 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. The Franklin (227 West Monroe; 222 West Adams)'s 35.6 kBtu/ft² across 2,967,721 sq ft works out to about 105.7 billion Btu (30,963 MWh-equivalent) in 2023. Its source EUI of 99.4 kBtu/ft² also counts the energy lost generating and delivering that power, which is why it is higher. The disclosure also reports 30,827,626 kWh of electricity, 4,187 therms of natural gas and 26,833 thousand gallons of water for the year.

Which law requires The Franklin (227 West Monroe; 222 West Adams) to report its energy use?

The Franklin (227 West Monroe; 222 West Adams) 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:101715:2023). Covered buildings that fail to benchmark and report face fines of up to $100 plus $25 per day of violation under the ordinance.