Ratner Athletics Center

5530 S Ellis Ave, Chicago IL, 60637 Find on Google Maps

Chicago Building ID: 252037

Building Info

Square Footage: 168,984 sqft
#3 Largest of Fitness Center/Health Club/Gyms
Higher than 60% of all buildings
Median Chicago Building
130,550 sqft
Median Fitness Center/Health Club/Gym
138,750.5 sqft
Built: 2003
Primary Property Type: Fitness Center/Health Club/Gym
Community Area: Hyde Park
Chicago Energy Rating: 2.0 / 4
Owner

Emissions & Energy Information

For 2021

Greenhouse Gas Intensity: 18.2 kg CO₂e / sqft
#3 Highest of Fitness Center/Health Club/Gyms 🚨
Higher than 95% of all buildings
Median Chicago Building
6.5 kg CO₂e / sqft
Median Fitness Center/Health Club/Gym
14.3 kg CO₂e / sqft
Total Greenhouse Gas Emissions: 3,083.4 metric tons CO₂ eq.
#3 Highest of Fitness Center/Health Club/Gyms 🚨
Higher than 87% of all buildings
Median Chicago Building
873.9 metric tons CO₂ eq.
Median Fitness Center/Health Club/Gym
1,780.2 metric tons CO₂ eq.
Source Energy Usage Intensity: 343.2 kBtu / sqft
#3 Highest of Fitness Center/Health Club/Gyms 🚨
Higher than 95% of all buildings
Median Chicago Building
126.8 kBtu / sqft
Median Fitness Center/Health Club/Gym
280.9 kBtu / sqft
Site Energy Usage Intensity: 205.6 kBtu / sqft
#1 Highest of Fitness Center/Health Club/Gyms 🚨
Higher than 96% of all buildings
Median Chicago Building
73.6 kBtu / sqft
Median Fitness Center/Health Club/Gym
157.6 kBtu / sqft
Natural Gas Use: 0 kBtu
#1 Lowest of Fitness Center/Health Club/Gyms 🏆
Lower than 97% of all buildings
Median Chicago Building
5,147,647.2 kBtu
Median Fitness Center/Health Club/Gym
7,382,626.7 kBtu
This Building Uses District Heating ❗
Although this building didn't burn any natural gas on site, it's connected to a district heating system, a centralized system for heating multiple buildings. District heating systems can be fully electric, but in Chicago most district heating systems are natural gas powered, meaning this building was most likely still heated with natural gas.
Electricity Use: 10,960,531.4 kBtu
Higher than 82% of all buildings
Median Chicago Building
3,656,138.8 kBtu
Median Fitness Center/Health Club/Gym
9,739,627.3 kBtu
District Steam Use: 19,336,257.1 kBtu
Most buildings don't use district steam, so we don't currently have comparison data.
District Chilled Water Use: 4,441,572 kBtu
Most buildings don't use district chilling, so we don't currently have comparison data.

* 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

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: