Oregon-based Earth Advantage Institute presented information at the 2011 International Builders' Show about their campaign for a national energy performance labeling program. Executive director, Sean Penrith, explained that the rationale is similar to the national nutritional label and pointed out that by including data regarding trans fats, consumers purchased less products containing them.
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In an effort to aid consumers and contractors, Earth Advantage created its own labeling system, Energy Performance Score (EPS), which it piloted across 300 homes in 2008 and launched formally in 2010. Under the program, residential buildings score on a scale of 0 to 200 based on millions of BTUs used per year, with 0 being net-zero. According to Duane Woik, green building consultant for Earth Advantage and state director with the Oregon HBA, EPS allows pros to build at their comfort level while providing homebuyers with a quantifiable and easy-to-understand measurement. (To view a scoring sample, click here.) The system also scores homes based on carbon footprint, on a scale of 0 to 15, and provides ratings for annual and monthly energy costs, similar to what buyers see on a refrigerator label. The Energy Performance Score program has already expanded beyond Oregon, with pilots underway in Seattle and Bellingham, Wash.
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