Universal Building

700 N SACRAMENTO BLVD, Chicago IL, 60612 Find on Google Maps

Chicago Building ID: 119609

Building Info

Square Footage: 149,585 sqft
Higher than 56% of all buildings
1.1x median
130,550 sqft
0.6x median Office
238,146 sqft
Built: 1901
Primary Property Type: Office
Community Area: Humboldt Park
Chicago Energy Rating: 4.0 / 4
Energy Star Score: 91 / 100
Owner

Emissions & Energy Information for 2021

Greenhouse Gas Intensity: 5 kg CO₂e / sqft
Lower than 77% of all buildings
0.8x median
6.5 kg CO₂e / sqft
0.7x median Office
7 kg CO₂e / sqft
Total Greenhouse Gas Emissions: 747 metric tons CO₂ eq.
Lower than 56% of all buildings
0.9x median
873.9 metric tons CO₂ eq.
1/2 median Office
1,762.8 metric tons CO₂ eq.
Source Energy Usage Intensity: 98.1 kBtu / sqft
Lower than 77% of all buildings
0.8x median
126.8 kBtu / sqft
0.7x median Office
137.1 kBtu / sqft
Site Energy Usage Intensity: 50.1 kBtu / sqft
Lower than 84% of all buildings
0.7x median
73.6 kBtu / sqft
0.8x median Office
63.6 kBtu / sqft
Natural Gas Use: 3,601,465.4 kBtu
Est. Gas Bill: $43,000 for 2021**
Lower than 65% of all buildings
0.7x median
5,147,647.2 kBtu
1.6x median Office
2,211,132.6 kBtu
Electricity Use: 3,890,672.9 kBtu
Est. Electric Bill: $163,000 for 2021**
Higher than 52% of all buildings
1.1x median
3,656,138.8 kBtu
1/2 median Office
9,692,318.2 kBtu

* Note on Rankings: Rankings and medians are among included buildings, which are those who reported under the Chicago Energy Benchmarking Ordinance for the year 2021, which only applies to buildings over 50,000 square feet.

** Note on Bill Estimates: Estimates for gas and electric bills are based on average electric and gas retail prices for Chicago in 2021 and are rounded. We expect large buildings would negotiate lower rates with utilities, but these estimates serve as an upper bound of cost and help understand the volume of energy a building is used by comparing it to your own energy bills! See our Chicago Gas & Electric Costs Source for the original statistics.

Data Source: Chicago Energy Benchmarking Data

What Should We Do About This?

Practically every building has room to improve with energy efficiency upgrades like insulation, switching to ENERGY STAR rated appliances, and more, but for any buildings with large natural gas use, we recommend one thing: electrify!

In other words, buildings should look to move all on-site uses of fossil fuels (including space heating, water heating, and cooking) to electrically powered systems like industrial grade heat pumps, heat pump water heaters, and induction stoves. With Illinois' current electric supply, just using the same amount of energy from electricity, rather than natural gas (aka methane) will dramatically reduce greenhouse gas emissions. This is because Illinois' grid in 2020 was already 67% carbon-free (see Illinois - Power | DecarbMyState ). This has already been done across the country with a variety of buildings, large and small, like the Hotel Marcel .

You can help make this a reality by talking to building owners and letting them know that a building's emissions are important to you, and that you want to see their building become fully electric and stop emitting greenhouse gases. Particularly for buildings you have a financial stake in (like your university, work, condo building, or apartment building) your voice in concert with your fellow building users can have a huge impact.

Additional Resources

See some additional resources on improving energy efficiency and understanding this data: