Oct. 4--Like kicking the tires, the Ramseyer family checked out a new house in Junction City this summer.

They liked the size: 2,500 square feet, plenty of room for the boys and the office and everything else. They loved the layout: Open kitchen, dining, living area -- a really great room.

And then they looked at the Energy Performance Score (EPS), a brand new corollary to the miles-per-gallon sticker on a car, which told them -- among other things -- just how much it would cost to heat, cool and light the new house: $1,029 a year. $86 a month

"That helped set our minds on wanting this house and not having to worry about it not being constructed properly," said James Ramseyer, patriarch of the four-member family. "The utility bill here will be less than at our old house -- and our old house was half this size."

Sold.

Like the fuel economy ratings sticker -- required on cars since 1975 -- the point of the EPS is to help consumers choose, said Kendall Youngblood, a manager at the Portland-based Energy Trust of Oregon, which rolled out the scoring system this summer.

"Which house is going to cost me more to live in? Which one has a better environmental footprint?" Kendall said. "Until now, there has been no way for anyone buying a new home to have any idea."

So far, more than 100 houses in Oregon have been rated, including a half dozen in Lane County. The Energy Trust would like to rate each new house in the state as it's built, first, and then score all the 1.6 million houses in the existing stock.

Gov. Ted Kulongoski and the Oregon Legislature are on the same page. Both approved a bill in the last legislative session to create a voluntary, state-sponsored EPS by July 2010. The bill also created a task force to report by October 2010 on adopting a mandatory scoring system.

Harnessing market forces

The EPS is meant to close the knowledge gap for consumers.

The easy-to-read standard graphic presentation of the scores shows a house's total energy use, carbon impact and utility costs.

"The challenge with buildings is it's not one thing," said Joshua Skov, sustainability expert with The Good Company in Eugene. "It's the water heater. It's the space heating system. It's the refrigerator. It's the washer-dryer. It's the dishwasher. It's the insulation -- the entire shell of the building, roof, walls, glazing on the windows. It's too much to ask people to become expert on every one of those.

"Everybody wants to save money. Nobody wants to throw away money on purpose.