It’s easy to find building rating systems, but figuring out what they all mean can be difficult.

ASHRAE says that’s why it’s proposing a standard to bring some rules to such programs by establishing minimum requirements for program labels, documentation and other components.

“There are many entities that are rating buildings utilizing a number of different building rating systems yielding varying results,” said Wayne Stoppelmoor, chairman of the American Society of Heating, Refrigeration and Air-Conditioning Engineers committee writing the standard. “Feedback from government and regulatory agencies has shown there is an overwhelming need for a standard that provides uniformity in the building energy labeling and disclosure process. We want to provide a non-commercial consensus standard that can be used in international, national and regional legislation, policy making and regulation activities. The goal is to write a standard that provides guidance for establishing rating systems that produce meaningful and consistent results.”

The public can see and comment on the standard until Sept. 28. Go to www.ashrae.org/publicreviews.