Chicago Board of Trade™ is a Class A Commercial Office building that was designated as a Chicago Landmark in 1977. The property has undertaken a wide array of energy efficiency projects and building initiatives to lower operating costs and to modernize the building to add value and attract top-tier tenants in the past few years.

Towards this effort, GlenStar Properties, LLC engaged Cyclone Energy Group in 2012 to consult on energy management through Cyclone’s energyPLAN service. Through energyPLAN, Cyclone and the building team:

• Plan and execute capital and operational projects
• Manage demand-side energy consumption
• Benchmark energy consumption and adhere to local energy ordinances
• Report on realized cost savings, trends, opportunities, and achievements

As a part of energyPLAN, the building’s completed projects include adding variable frequency drives, making operational improvements, and upgrading lighting. The property has secured $500,000 in utility incentives to reduce project paybacks and has shed an estimated 8 million kWh in electricity and 3.75 million ton-hours in district chilled water, which has translated to a cost savings of approximately $1 million.

The building has also completed ComEd’s Retro-Commissioning program to reduce its energy impact. These opportunities had a 0.37-year payback and saved an estimated 460,000 kWh and 650,000 ton hours (3.5% of energy use) and approximately $85,000 annually in energy costs.