St. Rita of Cascia HS

7740 S Western Ave, Chicago IL, 60620 Find on Google Maps

Chicago Building ID: 100396

Building Info

Square Footage: 435,758 sqft
#5 Largest of K-12 Schools
Higher than 84% of all buildings
3.1x median
139,707 sqft
4.3x median K-12 School
101,627 sqft
Built: 1960
Primary Property Type: K-12 School
Community Area: Ashburn
Chicago Energy Rating: 3.5 / 4
Energy Star Score: 72 / 100
Owner

Emissions & Energy Information for 2022

Greenhouse Gas Intensity: 5.2 kg CO₂e / sqft
Lower than 72% of all buildings
0.8x median
6.4 kg CO₂e / sqft
0.8x median K-12 School
6.4 kg CO₂e / sqft
Total Greenhouse Gas Emissions: 1,431.4 tons CO₂e
Higher than 67% of all buildings
1.6x median
885.8 tons CO₂e
2.2x median K-12 School
643.4 tons CO₂e

Years Reported 9/9 A

2014
2015
2016
2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022

Energy Breakdown

Natural Gas Use: 15,057,100.1 kBtu
Est. Gas Bill: $180,000 for 2022**
Higher than 81% of all buildings
2.6x median
5,818,399.6 kBtu
2.8x median K-12 School
5,465,480 kBtu
Electricity Use: 4,795,453.8 kBtu
Est. Electric Bill: $201,000 for 2022**
Higher than 58% of all buildings
1.3x median
3,796,376.7 kBtu
1.8x median K-12 School
2,728,607.1 kBtu

Energy Mix

Total Energy Use: 19,852,554 kBTU

View Extra Technical Info

Source Energy Usage Intensity: 105.8 kBtu / sqft
Lower than 73% of all buildings
0.8x median
132.2 kBtu / sqft
0.8x median K-12 School
132.5 kBtu / sqft
Site Energy Usage Intensity: 71.8 kBtu / sqft
Lower than 58% of all buildings
0.9x median
78.4 kBtu / sqft
0.9x median K-12 School
81.9 kBtu / sqft

Full Historical Data Table

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
2014	250,000	-	68	8.04	2,010	139.0	6,027,551	15,042,857
2015	250,000	-	73	7.6	1,911	131.6	5,870,220	13,781,745
2016	250,000	-	79	6.9	1,731.3	125.8	5,523,164	13,429,108
2017	269,726	-	80	6.5	1,759.2	119.2	5,107,133	15,343,446
2018	271,745	4.0	65	6.4	1,729.2	116.1	5,413,219	15,600,997
2019	275,768	3.0	66		-		5,206,623	15,901,599
2020	435,118	4.0	77	5.2	1,420.3	97.2	4,445,020	13,678,699
2021	435,758	3.0	69	5.4	1,494.9	106.5	5,133,442	14,341,300
2022	435,758	3.5	72	5.2	1,431.4	105.8	4,795,453	15,057,100

* 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 for the original statistics.

Data Source: Chicago Energy Benchmarking Data

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: