Energy performance leads the way

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Here in Oregon we like labels. We want our gifts to be "Made in Oregon," and we want to know if our wine is "salmon-safe." At the grocery store, we compare nutritional labels to determine calories and ingredients. At the car dealership we compare fuel efficiency by miles per gallon.

But while we've made great strides in consumer labeling for food and cars, our building industry is just catching up. When consumers purchase or lease a building in Oregon — perhaps one of the most significant investments a person might make — there is typically little to no information provided about how that building is likely to perform related to energy use.

The good news is that there is an emerging interest in sharing building performance information with consumers. Energy performance scores, or energy performance rating systems, provide consumers with building performance information by disclosing the relative energy efficiency of a home or building.

These rating systems can include data from modeled energy use at site, estimated amount of greenhouse gas emissions and an estimated monthly cost of energy use. Just as we compare nutritional labels, or miles per gallon in a car, an energy performance rating system allows consumers to compare the energy performance of a house, office space for lease or building for purchase.

From a consumer point of view, this is critical. This embedded cost of energy in a building includes a price tag that is far beyond what is paid for at point of sale, especially as we look at a likely future with rising energy costs. Energy scores provide a comprehensive perspective on a building.

The beginning of a trend?

Many cities and states across the nation are adopting measures to require energy performance disclosures for buildings. Austin, Texas, for example, adopted an ordinance that requires mandatory energy audits for residential, commercial and multifamily buildings that receive service from an Austin-based utility. Bellingham, Wash. introduced a pilot program that offered residents an energy assessment and an Energy Performance Score. Amazingly, 60 percent of the audited homes had work done to improve their homes' performance.

New York City is now requiring the annual energy and water benchmarking of all private buildings greater than 50,000 square feet, or public buildings greater than 10,000 square feet using the Energy Star Portfolio Manager. By no coincidence, New York City was rated as the third best market for green office buildings, according to Cushman and Wakefield's Green Building Opportunity Index.

Oregon as a leader

Here in Oregon, the State Legislature was considering a bill (HB 3535) that would have added Oregon to the list of states encouraging energy information to be shared with consumers at point of lease or sale. The bill didn't make it to the floor for a vote, but there's still a strong commitment among many of us in Oregon to build literacy around energy performance in buildings by sharing energy use data with prospective building tenants and buyers.

Without energy performance scores, Oregon lacks a concrete way to recognize energy efficiency in terms of market valuation. The real estate market now recognizes number of bedrooms, kitchen and bath remodels and building amenities, but fails to provide incentives for efficiency features likes insulation, building orientation and heating systems. Disclosing energy performance data will help the market recognize high performance buildings so green and mainstream builders alike will be rewarded for the efficiency measures they are including in their buildings.

As Oregon commits to better energy efficiency, our reporting and labeling must follow. Energy performance scores will motivate homebuyers and building owners to retrofit to save energy, and will create jobs here in Oregon.

As Cascadia Green Building Council’s Oregon Advocacy and Outreach Manager, Kelley Beamer works with the state’s sustainability community to create a positive environmental influence through the built environment. You can reach Beamer at kelley.beamer@cascadiagbc.org, or 503-228-5533 xt2#.