This
fall, buildings will have a new rating to aspire to when the American Society of
Heating, Refrigerating, and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE)
unveils its Building Energy Quotient (Building EQ) program. According to an
article in Salon, the program “will include ratings for
all building types except residential, and will roll out first as a prototype
this fall, with a widespread launch scheduled for next year.”
The
program mimics the EPA’s Energy
Star by also rating buildings on their energy use. But the EQ program aims to be
at once easier to understand and more stringent in its application. Under the EQ
rating system, buildings will be able to earn anything from an A+ to an F, based
on energy use per square foot. Two ratings, one for design and the other based
on energy use per square, would be combined in order to determine the final
“grade.” Buildings would earn an A+ for net zero consumption (producing enough
energy onsite to meet their needs). ASHRAE officials hope the rating system will
inspire more energy efficiency design and implementation by making efficiency a
prominent attribute and also allowing the comparison of different buildings and
their future counterparts.
So
what do you think? With LEED and EPA’s Energy Star, do we need another rating
system? And with the Waxman-Markey
climate bill’s own nationwide provision, are we once again focusing more on
labels than implementation?