Harold Washington Library

400 S State St, Chicago IL, 60605 Find on Google Maps

Chicago Building ID: 157964

Building Info

Square Footage: 756,640 sqft
#1 Largest of Librarys
Higher than 85% of all buildings
2.6x median
296,415 sqft
4.5x median Library
168,656 sqft
Built: 1991
Primary Property Type: Library
Community Area: Loop
Chicago Energy Rating: 1.0 / 4
Owner

Emissions & Energy Information

For 2020

Greenhouse Gas Intensity: 12.2 kg CO₂e / sqft
Higher than 81% of all buildings
1.6x median
7.7 kg CO₂e / sqft
1.0x median Library
12.2 kg CO₂e / sqft
Total Greenhouse Gas Emissions: 9,208 metric tons CO₂ eq.
#1 Highest of Librarys 🚨
Higher than 93% of all buildings
4.5x median
2,063.4 metric tons CO₂ eq.
6x median Library
1,527.2 metric tons CO₂ eq.
Source Energy Usage Intensity: 218.3 kBtu / sqft
Higher than 80% of all buildings
1.5x median
143.1 kBtu / sqft
1.0x median Library
218.3 kBtu / sqft
Site Energy Usage Intensity: 78 kBtu / sqft
#1 Lowest of Librarys 🏆
Lower than 55% of all buildings
1.0x median
81.9 kBtu / sqft
0.7x median Library
115.5 kBtu / sqft
Natural Gas Use: Not Reported
This data was not reported for this building, which likely means a value of zero for this field.
Electricity Use: 58,999,212.6 kBtu
#1 Highest of Librarys 🚨
Higher than 95% of all buildings
7x median
8,755,592 kBtu
10x median Library
5,940,568.6 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

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: