Wrightwood

How does Wrightwood 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. Wrightwood's ENERGY STAR score of 30 compares with an average of 62 across the 1,472 that report a score; it scores higher than 15% of them and lower than 85%. Its site EUI of 60.5 kBtu/ft² is about 16% below 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 5.2 kgCO₂e/ft² is about 10% below the group average of 5.8 kgCO₂e/ft².

At 88,000 sq ft, it is about 57% below the average floor area of 206,097 sq ft for those buildings. It was built in 1965, 6 years earlier 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 Wrightwood's energy performance changed over time?

BuildingCensus holds 6 Chicago disclosures for Wrightwood, covering report years 2018–2023. Its ENERGY STAR score went from 85 in 2020 to 30 in 2023 (-55 points); its best year on file was 2021, at 89. Site EUI moved from 46.8 kBtu/ft² (2020) to 60.5 kBtu/ft² (2023), an 29% increase. Reported emissions went from 347 tCO₂e to 457 tCO₂e over the same span (up 31%).

What does an ENERGY STAR score of 30 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 30 means the building performs better than about 30% of its national peers. BuildingCensus bands the score into report-card grades; 30 falls in band D — lowest band (1–54). It sits 45 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. Wrightwood's 60.5 kBtu/ft² across 88,000 sq ft works out to about 5.3 billion Btu (1,560 MWh-equivalent) in 2023. Its source EUI of 103.3 kBtu/ft² also counts the energy lost generating and delivering that power, which is why it is higher. The disclosure also reports 586,407 kWh of electricity and 33,260 therms of natural gas for the year.

Which law requires Wrightwood to report its energy use?

Wrightwood 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:101793:2023). Covered buildings that fail to benchmark and report face fines of up to $100 plus $25 per day of violation under the ordinance.