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The Field Museum 
🚩

1400 S Lake Shore Dr, Chicago IL, 60605.0 Find on Google Maps (opens in a new tab)

Chicago Building ID: 103638

Building Info

Square Footage
1,280,537 sqft
#11 Largest of Mixed Use Properties
Higher than 94% of others
4.3x the median, 1.3x the median Mixed Use Property
Median benchmarked building*:
296,415 sqft
Median benchmarked Mixed Use Property*:
953,865 sqft
Built
1921
Primary Property Type
Mixed Use Property
Community Area
Near South Side
Owner
Not Tagged

Emissions & Energy Information

Greenhouse Gas Intensity
9.9 kg CO2e / sqft
#13 Highest of Mixed Use Properties 🚩
Higher than 71% of others
1.3x the median, 1.0x the median Mixed Use Property
Median benchmarked building*:
7.7 kg CO2e / sqft
Median benchmarked Mixed Use Property*:
9.7 kg CO2e / sqft
Total Greenhouse Gas Emissions
12,646.7 metric tons CO2 eq.
#8 Highest of Mixed Use Properties 🚨
Higher than 96% of others
6x the median, 2.5x the median Mixed Use Property
Median benchmarked building*:
2,063.4 metric tons CO2 eq.
Median benchmarked Mixed Use Property*:
4,988.4 metric tons CO2 eq.
Source Energy Usage Intensity
183.4 kBtu / sqft
#12 Highest of Mixed Use Properties 🚩
Higher than 71% of others
1.3x the median, 1.0x the median Mixed Use Property
Median benchmarked building*:
143.1 kBtu / sqft
Median benchmarked Mixed Use Property*:
178.5 kBtu / sqft
Site Energy Usage Intensity
104.6 kBtu / sqft
#11 Highest of Mixed Use Properties 🚩
Higher than 73% of others
1.3x the median, 1.2x the median Mixed Use Property
Median benchmarked building*:
81.9 kBtu / sqft
Median benchmarked Mixed Use Property*:
84.8 kBtu / sqft
Natural Gas Use
79,910,087.7 kBtu
#30 Highest in Chicago* 🚩
#3 Highest of Mixed Use Properties 🚨
6x the median, 4.9x the median Mixed Use Property
Median benchmarked building*:
12,367,856.3 kBtu
Median benchmarked Mixed Use Property*:
16,202,649.9 kBtu
Electricity Use
53,837,201.6 kBtu
#10 Highest of Mixed Use Properties 🚨
Higher than 94% of others
6x the median, 2.0x the median Mixed Use Property
Median benchmarked building*:
8,755,592 kBtu
Median benchmarked Mixed Use Property*:
27,024,094.5 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: