Thorndale Manor Apartments

How does Thorndale Manor 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. Thorndale Manor Apartments's ENERGY STAR score of 17 compares with an average of 62 across the 1,472 that report a score; it scores higher than 8% of them and lower than 91%. Its site EUI of 113.4 kBtu/ft² is about 58% above the average of 72.0 kBtu/ft² — it uses more energy per square foot than the typical building in that group. Its emissions intensity of 7.6 kgCO₂e/ft² is about 31% above the group average of 5.8 kgCO₂e/ft².

At 55,000 sq ft, it is about 73% below the average floor area of 206,097 sq ft for those buildings. It was built in 1976, 5 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 Thorndale Manor Apartments's energy performance changed over time?

BuildingCensus holds 8 Chicago disclosures for Thorndale Manor Apartments, covering report years 2016–2023. Its ENERGY STAR score went from 22 in 2016 to 17 in 2023 (-5 points); its best year on file was 2018, at 33. Site EUI moved from 99.9 kBtu/ft² (2016) to 113.4 kBtu/ft² (2023), an 14% increase. Reported emissions went from 460 tCO₂e to 420 tCO₂e over the same span (down 9%).

What does an ENERGY STAR score of 17 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 17 means the building performs better than about 17% of its national peers. BuildingCensus bands the score into report-card grades; 17 falls in band D — lowest band (1–54). It sits 58 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. Thorndale Manor Apartments's 113.4 kBtu/ft² across 55,000 sq ft works out to about 6.2 billion Btu (1,828 MWh-equivalent) in 2023. Its source EUI of 151.6 kBtu/ft² also counts the energy lost generating and delivering that power, which is why it is higher. The disclosure also reports 299,788 kWh of electricity and 52,117 therms of natural gas for the year.

Which law requires Thorndale Manor Apartments to report its energy use?

Thorndale Manor 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 2023 disclosure (source record chicago:112320:2023). Covered buildings that fail to benchmark and report face fines of up to $100 plus $25 per day of violation under the ordinance.