Whitechapel Apartments

How does Whitechapel 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. Whitechapel Apartments's ENERGY STAR score of 32 compares with an average of 62 across the 1,472 that report a score; it scores higher than 16% of them and lower than 83%. Its site EUI of 93.9 kBtu/ft² is about 30% 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 6.6 kgCO₂e/ft² is about 14% above the group average of 5.8 kgCO₂e/ft².

At 126,000 sq ft, it is about 39% below the average floor area of 206,097 sq ft for those buildings. It was built in 1980, 9 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 Whitechapel Apartments's energy performance changed over time?

BuildingCensus holds 8 Chicago disclosures for Whitechapel Apartments, covering report years 2016–2023. Its ENERGY STAR score went from 17 in 2016 to 32 in 2023 (+15 points); its best year on file was 2021, at 42. Site EUI moved from 106.0 kBtu/ft² (2016) to 93.9 kBtu/ft² (2023), a 11% decrease. Reported emissions went from 1,154 tCO₂e to 834 tCO₂e over the same span (down 28%).

What does an ENERGY STAR score of 32 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 32 means the building performs better than about 32% of its national peers. BuildingCensus bands the score into report-card grades; 32 falls in band D — lowest band (1–54). It sits 43 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. Whitechapel Apartments's 93.9 kBtu/ft² across 126,000 sq ft works out to about 11.8 billion Btu (3,467 MWh-equivalent) in 2023. Its source EUI of 131.5 kBtu/ft² also counts the energy lost generating and delivering that power, which is why it is higher. The disclosure also reports 694,223 kWh of electricity and 94,612 therms of natural gas for the year.

Which law requires Whitechapel Apartments to report its energy use?

Whitechapel 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:175894:2023). Covered buildings that fail to benchmark and report face fines of up to $100 plus $25 per day of violation under the ordinance.