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John G Shedd Aquarium 

1200 S Lake Shore Dr, Chicago IL, 60605 Find on Google Maps (opens in a new tab)

Chicago Building ID: 166134

Attribution: Image Source (opens in a new tab). Cropped from original.

Building Info

Square Footage
452,756 sqft
#3 Largest of Other
Higher than 71% of all buildings
1.5x median
296,415 sqft
2.2x median Other
204,256 sqft
Built
1929
Primary Property Type
Other
Community Area
Near South Side
Owner
Not Tagged

Emissions & Energy Information

For 2020

Greenhouse Gas Intensity
22.1 kg CO2e / sqft
#1 Highest of Other 🚨
Higher than 93% of all buildings
2.9x median
7.7 kg CO2e / sqft
2.9x median Other
7.7 kg CO2e / sqft
Total Greenhouse Gas Emissions
9,988.9 metric tons CO2 eq.
#1 Highest of Other 🚨
Higher than 94% of all buildings
4.8x median
2,063.4 metric tons CO2 eq.
7x median Other
1,488.1 metric tons CO2 eq.
Source Energy Usage Intensity
402.1 kBtu / sqft
#1 Highest of Other 🚨
Higher than 93% of all buildings
2.8x median
143.1 kBtu / sqft
2.8x median Other
144.4 kBtu / sqft
Site Energy Usage Intensity
183.9 kBtu / sqft
#2 Highest of Other 🚨
Higher than 90% of all buildings
2.2x median
81.9 kBtu / sqft
2.0x median Other
90.5 kBtu / sqft
Natural Gas Use
29,225,848.1 kBtu
#1 Highest of Other 🚨
Higher than 86% of all buildings
2.4x median
12,367,856.3 kBtu
2.9x median Other
10,031,366.2 kBtu
Electricity Use
54,056,852.7 kBtu
#1 Highest of Other 🚨
Higher than 95% of all buildings
6x median
8,755,592 kBtu
9x median Other
5,833,673.4 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: