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Rush University Medical CenterΒ 
🚨

1653 W Congress Pkwy, Chicago IL, 60612 Find on Google Maps (opens in a new tab)

Chicago Building ID: 100867

Building Info

Square Footage
5,863,656 sqft
#2 Largest
#1 Largest of Hospitals (General Medical & Surgical)
42x median
139,707 sqft
6x median Hospital (General Medical & Surgical)
973,278.5 sqft
Built
1982
Building Count
19
Community Area
Near West Side
Owner
Not Tagged

Emissions & Energy Information for 2022

Greenhouse Gas Intensity
23.7 kg CO2e / sqft
#36 Highest in Chicago* 🚩
3.7x median
6.4 kg CO2e / sqft
1.3x median Hospital (General Medical & Surgical)
18.6 kg CO2e / sqft
Total Greenhouse Gas Emissions
92,454.1 metric tons CO2 eq.
#2 Highest in Chicago* 🚨
#2 Highest of Hospitals (General Medical & Surgical) 🚨
104x median
885.8 metric tons CO2 eq.
7x median Hospital (General Medical & Surgical)
13,925.4 metric tons CO2 eq.
Source Energy Usage Intensity
486.1 kBtu / sqft
#39 Highest in Chicago* 🚩
3.7x median
132.2 kBtu / sqft
1.3x median Hospital (General Medical & Surgical)
384.9 kBtu / sqft
Site Energy Usage Intensity
262.3 kBtu / sqft
#46 Highest in Chicago* 🚩
3.3x median
78.4 kBtu / sqft
1.1x median Hospital (General Medical & Surgical)
228.2 kBtu / sqft
Natural Gas Use
360,612,170.5 kBtu
Est. Gas Bill: $4,300,000 for 2022**
#3 Highest in Chicago* 🚨
#1 Highest of Hospitals (General Medical & Surgical) 🚨
62x median
5,818,399.6 kBtu
3.5x median Hospital (General Medical & Surgical)
103,371,829.4 kBtu
Electricity Use
450,327,013.7 kBtu
Est. Electric Bill: $18,874,000 for 2022**
#2 Highest in Chicago* 🚨
#2 Highest of Hospitals (General Medical & Surgical) 🚨
119x median
3,796,376.7 kBtu
7x median Hospital (General Medical & Surgical)
62,901,648.4 kBtu
District Steam Use
210,634,274.5 kBtu

Most buildings don't use district steam, so we don't currently have comparison data.

Historical Data

Year Floor Area sqft Chicago Energy
Rating
Energy Star
Score
GHG Intensity kg CO2e / sqft GHG Emissions metric tons CO2e Source EUI kBtu / sqft Electricity Use kBtu Natural Gas Use kBtu District Steam Use kBtu
2014 4,098,526 - 4 33.67138,008560.0474,588,387346,243,488 365,475,113
2015 4,098,526 - 9 31.7129,897524.3461,845,249300,796,332 318,219,795
2016 4,098,526 - 6 31.1127,610548.3468,672,320329,160,898 357,545,658
2017 3,825,836 - 2 35.3134,961.2621.1464,443,828326,688,992 477,961,740
2018 3,888,568 1.0 9 29.1113,296.6510.4466,597,141362,280,220 247,432,610
2020 5,863,656 2.0 30 26.4102,661481.7456,007,414325,954,996 213,546,900
2021 5,863,656 1.5 33 24.796,018.4478.0455,006,577288,144,811 236,853,013
2022 5,863,656 1.5 31 23.792,454.1486.1450,327,013360,612,170 210,634,274

* Note on Rankings: Rankings and medians are among included buildings, which are those who reported under the Chicago Energy Benchmarking Ordinance for the year 2022, which only applies to buildings over 50,000 square feet.

** Note on Bill Estimates: Estimates for gas and electric bills are based on average electric and gas retail prices for Chicago in 2021 and are rounded. We expect large buildings would negotiate lower rates with utilities, but these estimates serve as an upper bound of cost and help understand the volume of energy a building is used by comparing it to your own energy bills! See our Chicago Gas & Electric Costs Source (opens in a new tab) for the original statistics.

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: