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Chicago Mayor, ICLEI Honor the Windy City's Greenest Buildings

<p>Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley, the city's Department of Environment and the nonprofit ICLEI-Local Governments for Sustainability USA honored 34 property management firms, tenant companies and buildings in the Windy City's inaugural Green Office Challenge.</p>

Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley, the city's Department of Environment and the nonprofit ICLEI-Local Governments for Sustainability USA honored 34 property management firms, tenant companies and buildings in the Windy City's inaugural Green Office Challenge.

The contest, staged as part of the Chicago Climate Action Plan, is intended to spur friendly competition among city's heavyweights in property management and some of the largest office building tenants in town to see which can go the furthest to reduce energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions.

Chicago's Climate Action Plan calls for the city to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 25 percent below 1990 levels by 2020. The built environment is responsible for about 70 percent of Chicago's greenhouse gas emissions, and commercial structures account for almost 40 percent of total GHG emissions.

A cornerstone of the city's climate plan is to cut energy consumption by 30 percent in 40 percent of residential units and to achieve the same reduction in 50 percent of commercial and industrial facilities.

Together over the course of a year, the 34 firms and properties that were singled out for their efforts:

  • Cut energy use by more than 70 million kilowatt-hours of electricity -- an amount the contest sponsors said is equivalent to the energy used by 45,000 homes or using 125,000 barrels of oil.
  • Prevented the emissions of more than 54,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere – the equivalent of removing more than 10,000 cars from Chicago streets.
  • Pared water use by more than 5 percent.
  • Diverted more than 1,200 tons of materials from landfills

More than 150 property managers and tenant companies vied for recognition.

 

To earn a spot on the winners' list, competing tenant firms were judged against a "Green Office Scorecard" that is based on 50 strategies for improving performance the five office-related environmental categories set by the city's Climate Action Plan: waste, energy, transportation, outreach and property manager engagement.

The property managers documented their efforts by using tools that included the US Environmental Protection Agency's Energy Star Portfolio Manager. The contestants also were evaluated in areas set by the city's Climate Action Plan: energy, water, waste and tenant engagement.

Here are the property managers, tenant companies and buildings that were honored:

Aon Center BuildingLeadership in Tenant Excellence Award

  • Bain & Company
  • Chicago Park District
  • Crowe Horwath LLP
  • GATX Corporation
  • Goldman, Sachs & Co.
  • Howard Ecker + Company
  • Joseph Freed & Associates, LLC
  • KPMG LLP
  • Levenfeld Pearlstein, LLC
  • McGuire Engineers, Inc
  • Midwest Energy Efficiency Alliance
  • OWP/P|Cannon Design
  • PepsiCo Chicago
  • Perkins+Will
  • Shaw Environmental & Infrastructure Inc.
  • U.S. Equities Asset Management, LLC--233 South Wacker Drive
  • Weston Solutions

Leadership in Property Management Excellence Award

  • PepsiCo Chicago Plaza, 555 West Monroe Street, managed by CB Richard Ellis
  • Aon Center, 200 East Randolph Street, managed by Jones Lang LaSalle
  • Richard J. Daley Center, 50 West Washington Street, managed by MB Real Estate
  • 222 North LaSalle Street, managed by Tishman Speyer

Property Management Excellence Award

  • CB Richard Ellis -- 303 West Madison Street
  • General Services Administration -- Ralph H. Metcalfe Building, 77 West Jackson Boulevard
  • Hines -- 101 North Wacker Drive; 333 West Wacker Drive; One South Dearborn Street; Three First National Plaza--70 West Madison Street
  • The John Buck Company -- 111 South Wacker Drive
  • Jones Lang LaSalle -- 225 West Wacker Drive; 55 West Monroe Street; Hyatt Center, 71 South Wacker Drive; One East Wacker Drive
  • Piedmont Office Realty Trust Inc. -- Leo Burnett Building, 35 West Wacker Drive
  • Prime Group Realty Trust -- 330 North Wabash Avenue

Images of Aon Center courtesy of Jones Lang LaSalle.

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