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Forty-five commercial and public buildings in the Portland-metro area bear Energy Star labels, among the most in the country. But a new energy ratings system from the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating, and Air-Conditioning Engineers could make those ratings seem less appealing.

Instead of giving gold stars, like the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency‘s Energy Star program, the new system gives letter grades. And ASHRAE is a tough grader.

Some of those Energy Stars might earn only a 鈥淏鈥� grade under ASHRAE’s Building Energy Quotient, or Building EQ rating system, said Ryan Colker, manager of government affairs for ASHRAE.

Building EQ is designed to be both technical and easy to understand, Colker said. It relies on two assessments: modeling of a building’s design and a year’s worth of operating data. 鈥淭here’s a concern with the gap between how buildings are modeled and what the actual results are,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e want to bring that gap closer together.鈥�

The goal, Colker said, is to push developers and building owners toward the net-zero energy standard, an 鈥淎+鈥� under Building EQ. That’s easier under a graded scale than with a pass-fail marker, he said.

Energy Star buildings must be in the 75th percentile of energy efficiency. 鈥淏ut you can’t really differentiate between buildings at 75 percent and 90 percent,鈥� Colker said. 鈥淭hat’s one of the reasons we’ve gone to the scale we’ve gone to, is to recognize the top performers.鈥�

But Wade Lange, vice president of property management with Ashforth Pacific Inc., said he doesn’t see why a new system is needed. Several Ashforth buildings, including the ODS Tower, Liberty Centre and the Pacwest Center have earned the Energy Star label.

鈥淚 don’t see why they’re doing this,鈥� Lange said. 鈥淲hy do we need another system?鈥�

An Energy Star label on one of Lange’s buildings means it is more energy efficient than three-quarters of other buildings, he said. He updates his buildings’ energy use data in the Energy Star system and can tell when they’re outperforming competitors’, even without a letter grade for comparison.

Lange wouldn’t relish getting a 鈥淏鈥� for one of those buildings. 鈥淚t would be a disappointment,鈥� he said.

The grading scale could shake up the industry with its simplicity, said Alisa Kane, green building manager with the Portland Bureau of Planning and Sustainability, especially in Portland, which bustles with environmental pride. The competitive nature of the grading scale could easily leave Energy Star in the dust.

鈥淲e all know what it feels like to get a 鈥楥,’ 鈥� Kane said. 鈥淎nd we all know we want to do better.鈥�

The new grading system would probably push a kind of competition between developers for more efficient buildings, Kane said. 鈥淚t will probably have the same bearing on the market as LEED 诲辞别蝉.鈥�

But Building EQ focuses solely on energy, unlike Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, which considers other factors. As such, Building EQ will appeal to building owners who wouldn’t consider LEED, said Louis Starr, a commissioning agent for Heery.

鈥淚’ve seen schools say, 鈥榃e want to do something about energy efficiency, but we don’t want to go through the LEED process because it costs a lot and a lot of it doesn’t relate specifically to energy efficiency,’ 鈥� Starr said.

It doesn’t always make sense to earn points for proximity to public transportation, Starr said. 鈥淪ometimes you just get the site you get.鈥�

Building EQ, which will be officially introduced later this fall, would be voluntary, at least at first, Colker said. He’d like to see it incorporated as the energy use standard of other, broader standards such as LEED.

Eventually, he said, the system could be mandated by local governments.

Portland officials are already discussing the standards as part of the city’s planned guidelines for highly efficient buildings. Whether it’s Energy Star or Building EQ, and whether it’s voluntary or mandatory, hasn’t been determined, Kane said.

鈥淲e’re still looking at what’s the best fit for Portland.鈥�