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Crerar Library 
🏆

5730 S Ellis Ave, Chicago IL, 60637 Find on Google Maps (opens in a new tab)

Chicago Building ID: 252038

Building Info

Square Footage
168,656 sqft
Lower than 77% of all buildings
0.6x median
296,415 sqft
1.0x median Library
168,656 sqft
Built
1984
Primary Property Type
Library
Community Area
Hyde Park
Owner
University of Chicago
View All Tagged UChicago Buildings

Note: Owner manually tagged. Logo used under fair use.

Emissions & Energy Information

For 2020

Greenhouse Gas Intensity
9.1 kg CO2e / sqft
#1 Lowest of Librarys 🏆
Higher than 65% of all buildings
1.2x median
7.7 kg CO2e / sqft
0.7x median Library
12.2 kg CO2e / sqft
Total Greenhouse Gas Emissions
1,527.2 metric tons CO2 eq.
Lower than 69% of all buildings
0.7x median
2,063.4 metric tons CO2 eq.
1.0x median Library
1,527.2 metric tons CO2 eq.
Source Energy Usage Intensity
161.7 kBtu / sqft
#1 Lowest of Librarys 🏆
Higher than 62% of all buildings
1.1x median
143.1 kBtu / sqft
0.7x median Library
218.3 kBtu / sqft
Site Energy Usage Intensity
101.4 kBtu / sqft
Higher than 70% of all buildings
1.2x median
81.9 kBtu / sqft
0.9x median Library
115.5 kBtu / sqft
Natural Gas Use
10,380 kBtu
#6 Lowest in Chicago* 🏆
#1 Lowest of Librarys 🏆
1/1192 median
12,367,856.3 kBtu
1/4 median Library
40,580 kBtu
Electricity Use
5,231,080.4 kBtu
Lower than 79% of all buildings
0.6x median
8,755,592 kBtu
0.9x median Library
5,940,568.6 kBtu
District Steam Use
6,201,409.5 kBtu
1/2 median
12,791,107.2 kBtu
District Chilled Water Use
5,662,800.1 kBtu
0.6x median
9,674,280.5 kBtu

* Important Note: Rankings and medians are among included buildings, which are those who reported under the Chicago Energy Benchmarking Ordinance for the year 2020 with emissions greater than 1,000 metric tons.

Data Source: Chicago Energy Benchmarking Data Covered Buildings (opens in a new tab)

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 (opens in a new tab)). This has already been done across the country with a variety of buildings, large and small, like the Hotel Marcel (opens in a new tab).

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: