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InterContinental 
🚩

505 N Michigan Ave, Chicago IL, 60611 Find on Google Maps (opens in a new tab)

Chicago Building ID: 160067

Building Info

Square Footage
782,000 sqft
#7 Largest of Hotels
Higher than 94% of all buildings
Median Chicago Building
130,550 sqft
Median Hotel
243,373 sqft
Built
1929
Primary Property Type
Hotel
Community Area
Near North Side
Owner
Not Tagged

Emissions & Energy Information

For 2021

Greenhouse Gas Intensity
8.8 kg CO2e / sqft
Higher than 79% of all buildings
Median Chicago Building
6.5 kg CO2e / sqft
Median Hotel
8.3 kg CO2e / sqft
Total Greenhouse Gas Emissions
6,324 metric tons CO2 eq.
#7 Highest of Hotels 🚨
Higher than 95% of all buildings
Median Chicago Building
873.9 metric tons CO2 eq.
Median Hotel
1,999.5 metric tons CO2 eq.
Source Energy Usage Intensity
174 kBtu / sqft
Higher than 79% of all buildings
Median Chicago Building
126.8 kBtu / sqft
Median Hotel
162.7 kBtu / sqft
Site Energy Usage Intensity
106.9 kBtu / sqft
Higher than 83% of all buildings
Median Chicago Building
73.6 kBtu / sqft
Median Hotel
89.6 kBtu / sqft
Natural Gas Use
51,230,966.9 kBtu
#50 Highest in Chicago* 🚩
#5 Highest of Hotels 🚨
Median Chicago Building
5,147,647.2 kBtu
Median Hotel
9,922,938 kBtu
Electricity Use
25,225,799.7 kBtu
#9 Highest of Hotels 🚨
Higher than 93% of all buildings
Median Chicago Building
3,656,138.8 kBtu
Median Hotel
9,255,213.8 kBtu

* Important Note: 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.

Data Source: Chicago Energy Benchmarking Data (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: