Woodlawn Station

How does Woodlawn Station 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. Woodlawn Station's ENERGY STAR score of 98 compares with an average of 62 across the 1,472 that report a score; it scores higher than 93% of them and lower than 4%. Its site EUI of 37.2 kBtu/ft² is about half of 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 2.9 kgCO₂e/ft² is about half of the group average of 5.8 kgCO₂e/ft².

At 103,691 sq ft, it is about half of the average floor area of 206,097 sq ft for those buildings. It was built in 2017, 46 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 Woodlawn Station's energy performance changed over time?

BuildingCensus holds 6 Chicago disclosures for Woodlawn Station, covering report years 2018–2023. Its ENERGY STAR score went from 52 in 2019 to 98 in 2023 (+46 points). Site EUI moved from 55.5 kBtu/ft² (2019) to 37.2 kBtu/ft² (2023), a 33% decrease. Reported emissions went from 518 tCO₂e to 304 tCO₂e over the same span (down 41%).

What does an ENERGY STAR score of 98 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 98 means the building performs better than about 98% of its national peers. BuildingCensus bands the score into report-card grades; 98 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. Woodlawn Station's 37.2 kBtu/ft² across 103,691 sq ft works out to about 3.9 billion Btu (1,130 MWh-equivalent) in 2023. Its source EUI of 58.4 kBtu/ft² also counts the energy lost generating and delivering that power, which is why it is higher. The disclosure also reports 335,959 kWh of electricity, 27,090 therms of natural gas and 2,946 thousand gallons of water for the year.

Which law requires Woodlawn Station to report its energy use?

Woodlawn Station 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:255935:2023). Covered buildings that fail to benchmark and report face fines of up to $100 plus $25 per day of violation under the ordinance.