Springfield Building Performance Standard

Springfield’s commercial building story is a timber story. The International Paper mill on the north edge of town has been producing containerboard continuously since 1948 and runs roughly 1.7 million square feet of industrial floor space with its own cogeneration plant. Roseburg Forest Products is headquartered here. Oregon Industrial Lumber Products has been operating since the late 1940s. The Kingsford charcoal facility covers more than 40 acres. These aren’t offices with a nice view of Mt. Pisgah — they’re working industrial plants, and they anchor a commercial real estate market that looks very different from the rest of the I-5 corridor.

The Oregon Building Performance Standard doesn’t exempt industrial cities. It does include specific scoping rules around process loads, and it does distinguish between process-exempt manufacturing and the administrative, warehouse, and support buildings that share the same campus. If you own or manage a Springfield commercial building 35,000 square feet or larger, those distinctions matter — and getting them right at the scoping stage is where a lot of compliance headaches get solved before they start.

Which Springfield Buildings Are In Scope

Oregon BPS under ORS 330-300 applies broadly to commercial buildings 35,000 square feet and larger. In Springfield that includes:

• Office and administrative buildings at the International Paper, Roseburg Forest Products, and Oregon Industrial Lumber campuses
• Warehouse and support buildings associated with the wood products industry
• Kingsford Manufacturing support buildings (process areas are typically scoped separately)
• Downtown Springfield office and retail buildings
• Retail anchors and shopping centers along Main Street and the I-5 corridor
• Springfield School District facilities above the threshold (public school scoping varies by statute)
• PeaceHealth-affiliated medical office buildings (PeaceHealth’s main campus is in Eugene but the Springfield side has affiliated facilities)
• Hotels and lodging serving the Eugene-Springfield metro area
• Larger multifamily buildings above the threshold

Springfield at a Glance

Springfield Data	Figure
City population	~60,800
County	Lane
Electric utility	Springfield Utility Board (SUB)
Avg SUB residential rate	~$0.081/kWh (among Oregon’s lowest)
Dominant commercial sector	Industrial timber/pulp/wood products
Major industrial anchors	International Paper, Roseburg Forest Products, Oregon Industrial Lumber, Kingsford
Metro area	Eugene-Springfield MSA

The SUB Wrinkle: Municipal Utility, Different Incentive Stack

Springfield is served by Springfield Utility Board, a municipal utility that’s been in operation since 1950. SUB runs its own rebate and efficiency programs — heat pumps, heat pump water heaters, weatherization, smart thermostats, EV chargers, and a 0 percent energy efficiency loan program for specific equipment categories. That’s a different incentive track than Energy Trust of Oregon, which is the primary path for PGE and Pacific Power customers.

Why does this matter for BPS compliance? Because the stack of available incentive dollars for a Springfield building depends on which utility serves it. For properties inside SUB’s core service territory, we work with SUB’s commercial efficiency programs directly. For properties in the broader Lane County area served by Pacific Power, Energy Trust of Oregon applies and offers up to $0.85 per square foot. For a hybrid portfolio, we scope each building individually.

What the Audit Actually Is

An ASHRAE Level 2 energy audit under Oregon BPS is a specific engineering deliverable defined by ASHRAE Standard 100 with Oregon amendments. It requires:

1. Review of benchmarking data and utility billing history
2. On-site measurement of building envelope, HVAC, lighting, controls, plug loads, and domestic hot water performance
3. Energy modeling and calibration to actual consumption
4. A life-cycle cost assessment on every candidate energy conservation measure
5. A compliance-ready Form Q package submitted to the Oregon Department of Energy

For a typical Springfield office or retail building, four to six weeks from kickoff to delivered report. For larger industrial support buildings with complex process-load boundary questions, longer — and the upfront scoping conversation with ODOE about which loads are in or out of the audit boundary often saves significant time and cost.

Flat Fee Schedule

Size	Flat Fee
35,000–50,000 sq ft	$7,500
50,000–75,000 sq ft	$10,000
75,000–100,000 sq ft	$13,500
100,000–150,000 sq ft	$17,500
150,000+ sq ft	Custom quote

No hourly billing. No contingency fees. No percentage of claimed savings. The price is set at the scoping call and doesn’t change.

Springfield Building Categories We Handle

• Industrial facility office, warehouse, and support buildings
• Retail anchors and shopping centers
• Hotels and lodging
• Medical office buildings
• Private and institutional education facilities
• Multifamily buildings above the threshold
• Warehouse and distribution properties

Don’t Wait for 2028

Compliance deadlines in 2028 (Tier 1) and 2030 (Tier 2) look like they give you time, but the realistic timeline for a full audit cycle — scoping, on-site work, modeling, LCCA, Form Q, and any implementation driven by audit findings — runs 9 to 18 months for most buildings. Springfield is a smaller commercial market with a more limited pool of qualified energy auditors available locally, and availability will tighten as the deadline approaches.

If you own or manage a Springfield commercial building 35,000 square feet or larger, email Mike at vanvicklebros@gmail.com with the address, square footage, primary use, and utility provider. We’ll send back a flat quote and an incentive read the same week. For industrial clients navigating process-load exemptions, our post on Oregon BPS for industrial and warehouse properties covers the gray areas, and our Eugene BPS compliance page has additional context on the broader Lane County market.