I 

113TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2126 

To facilitate better alignment, cooperation, and best practices between commercial real estate landlords and tenants regarding energy efficiency 

in buildings, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MAY 23, 2013 

Mr. MCKINLEY (for himself and Mr. WELCH) introduced the following bill; 

which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce 

A BILL 

To facilitate better alignment, cooperation, and best practices 

between commercial real estate landlords and tenants 

regarding energy efficiency in buildings, and for other 

purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Better Buildings Act 

5 of 2013’’. 

6 SEC. 2. ENERGY EFFICIENCY IN FEDERAL AND OTHER 

7 BUILDINGS. 

8 (a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 


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1 (1) ADMINISTRATOR.—The term ‘‘Adminis2 trator’’ means the Administrator of General Serv3 ices. 

4 (2) COST-EFFECTIVE ENERGY EFFICIENCY

5 MEASURE.—The terms ‘‘cost-effective energy effi6 ciency measure’’ and ‘‘measure’’ mean any building 

7 product, material, equipment, or service and the in8 stalling, implementing, or operating thereof, that 

9 provides energy savings in an amount that is not 

10 less than the cost of such installing, implementing, 

11 or operating. 

12 (b) MODEL PROVISIONS, POLICIES, AND BEST PRAC13 TICES.— 

14 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days 

15 after the date of enactment of this Act, the Adminis16 trator, in consultation with the Secretary of Energy 

17 and after providing the public with an opportunity 

18 for notice and comment, shall develop model leasing 

19 provisions and best practices in accordance with this 

20 subsection. 

21 (2) COMMERCIAL LEASING.— 

22 (A) IN GENERAL.—The model commercial 

23 leasing provisions developed under this sub24 section shall, at a minimum, align the interests 

25 of building owners and tenants with regard to 


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1 investments in cost-effective energy efficiency 

2 measures to encourage building owners and ten3 ants to collaborate to invest in such measures. 

4 (B) USE OF MODEL PROVISIONS.—The 

5 Administrator may use the model provisions de6 veloped under this subsection in any standard 

7 leasing document that designates a Federal 

8 agency (or other client of the Administrator) as 

9 a landlord or tenant. 

10 (C) PUBLICATION.—The Administrator 

11 shall periodically publish the model leasing pro12 visions developed under this subsection, along 

13 with explanatory materials, to encourage build14 ing owners and tenants in the private sector to 

15 use such provisions and materials. 

16 (3) REALTY SERVICES.—The Administrator 

17 shall develop policies and practices to implement 

18 cost-effective energy efficiency measures for the real19 ty services provided by the Administrator to Federal 

20 agencies (or other clients of the Administrator), in21 cluding periodic training of appropriate Federal em22 ployees and contractors on how to identify and 

23 evaluate those measures. 

24 (4) STATE AND LOCAL ASSISTANCE.—The Ad25 ministrator, in consultation with the Secretary of 


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1 Energy, shall make available model leasing provi2 sions and best practices developed under this sub3 section to State, county, and municipal governments 

4 to manage owned and leased building space in ac5 cordance with the goal of encouraging investment in 

6 all cost-effective energy efficiency measures. 

7 SEC. 3. SEPARATE SPACES WITH HIGH-PERFORMANCE EN8 ERGY EFFICIENCY MEASURES. 

9 Subtitle B of title IV of the Energy Independence and 

10 Security Act of 2007 (42 U.S.C. 17081 et seq.) is amend11 ed by adding at the end the following: 

12 ‘‘SEC. 424. SEPARATE SPACES WITH HIGH-PERFORMANCE 

13 ENERGY EFFICIENCY MEASURES. 

14 ‘‘(a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

15 ‘‘(1) HIGH-PERFORMANCE ENERGY EFFICIENCY

16 MEASURE.—The term ‘high-performance energy effi17 ciency measure’ means a technology, product, or 

18 practice that will result in substantial operational 

19 cost savings by reducing energy consumption and 

20 utility costs. 

21 ‘‘(2) SEPARATE SPACES.—The term ‘separate 

22 spaces’ means areas within a commercial building 

23 that are leased or otherwise occupied by a tenant or 

24 other occupant for a period of time pursuant to the 

25 terms of a written agreement. 


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1 ‘‘(b) STUDY.— 

2 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 1 year after 

3 the date of enactment of this section, the Secretary, 

4 acting through the Assistant Secretary of Energy 

5 Efficiency and Renewable Energy, shall complete a 

6 study on the feasibility of— 

7 ‘‘(A) significantly improving energy effi8 ciency in commercial buildings through the de9 sign and construction, by owners and tenants, 

10 of separate spaces with high-performance en11 ergy efficiency measures; and 

12 ‘‘(B) encouraging owners and tenants to 

13 implement high-performance energy efficiency 

14 measures in separate spaces. 

15 ‘‘(2) SCOPE.—The study shall, at a minimum, 

16 include— 

17 ‘‘(A) descriptions of— 

18 ‘‘(i) high-performance energy effi19 ciency measures that should be considered 

20 as part of the initial design and construc21 tion of separate spaces; 

22 ‘‘(ii) processes that owners, tenants, 

23 architects, and engineers may replicate 

24 when designing and constructing separate 


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1 spaces with high-performance energy effi2 ciency measures; 

3 ‘‘(iii) standards and best practices to 

4 achieve appropriate energy intensities for 

5 lighting, plug loads, pipe loads, heating, 

6 cooling, cooking, laundry, and other sys7 tems to satisfy the needs of the commercial 

8 building tenant; 

9 ‘‘(iv) return on investment and pay10 back analyses of the incremental cost and 

11 projected energy savings of the proposed 

12 set of high-performance energy efficiency 

13 measures, including consideration of tax 

14 and other available incentives; 

15 ‘‘(v) models and simulation methods 

16 that predict the quantity of energy used by 

17 separate spaces with high-performance en18 ergy efficiency measures and that compare 

19 that predicted quantity to the quantity of 

20 energy used by separate spaces without 

21 high-performance energy efficiency meas22 ures but that otherwise comply with appli23 cable building code requirements; 

24 ‘‘(vi) measurement and verification 

25 platforms demonstrating actual energy use 


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1 of high-performance energy efficiency 

2 measures installed in separate spaces, and 

3 whether such measures generate the sav4 ings intended in the initial design and con5 struction of the separate spaces; 

6 ‘‘(vii) best practices that encourage an 

7 integrated approach to designing and con8 structing separate spaces to perform at op9 timum energy efficiency in conjunction 

10 with the central systems of a commercial 

11 building; and 

12 ‘‘(viii) any impact on employment re13 sulting from the design and construction of 

14 separate spaces with high-performance en15 ergy efficiency measures; and 

16 ‘‘(B) case studies reporting economic and 

17 energy saving returns in the design and con18 struction of separate spaces with high-perform19 ance energy efficiency measures. 

20 ‘‘(3) PUBLIC PARTICIPATION.—Not later than 

21 90 days after the date of the enactment of this sec22 tion, the Secretary shall publish a notice in the Fed23 eral Register requesting public comments regarding 

24 effective methods, measures, and practices for the 


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1 design and construction of separate spaces with 

2 high-performance energy efficiency measures. 

3 ‘‘(4) PUBLICATION.—The Secretary shall pub4 lish the study on the website of the Department of 

5 Energy.’’. 

6 SEC. 4. TENANT STAR PROGRAM. 

7 Subtitle B of title IV of the Energy Independence and 

8 Security Act of 2007 (42 U.S.C. 17081 et seq.) (as 

9 amended by section 3) is amended by adding at the end 

10 the following: 

11 ‘‘SEC. 425. TENANT STAR PROGRAM. 

12 ‘‘(a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

13 ‘‘(1) HIGH-PERFORMANCE ENERGY EFFICIENCY

14 MEASURE.—The term ‘high-performance energy effi15 ciency measure’ has the meaning given the term in 

16 section 424. 

17 ‘‘(2) SEPARATE SPACES.—The term ‘separate 

18 spaces’ has the meaning given the term in section 

19 424. 

20 ‘‘(b) TENANT STAR.—The Administrator of the Envi21 ronmental Protection Agency, in consultation with the 

22 Secretary of Energy, shall develop a voluntary program 

23 within the Energy Star program established by section 

24 324A of the Energy Policy and Conservation Act (42 

25 U.S.C. 6294a), which may be known as Tenant Star, to 


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1 promote energy efficiency in separate spaces leased by ten2 ants or otherwise occupied within commercial buildings. 

3 ‘‘(c) EXPANDING SURVEY DATA.—The Secretary of 

4 Energy, acting through the Administrator of the Energy 

5 Information Administration, shall— 

6 ‘‘(1) collect, through each Commercial Build7 ings Energy Consumption Survey of the Energy In8 formation Administration that is conducted after the 

9 date of enactment of this section, data on— 

10 ‘‘(A) categories of building occupancy that 

11 are known to consume significant quantities of 

12 energy, such as occupancy by law firms, data 

13 centers, trading floors, restaurants, retail out14 lets, and financial services firms; and 

15 ‘‘(B) other aspects of the property, build16 ing operation, or building occupancy determined 

17 by the Administrator of the Energy Information 

18 Administration, in consultation with the Admin19 istrator of the Environmental Protection Agen20 cy, to be relevant in lowering energy consump21 tion; and 

22 ‘‘(2) make data collected under paragraph (1) 

23 available to the public in aggregated form and pro24 vide such data, and any associated results, to the 


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1 Administrator of the Environmental Protection 

2 Agency for use in accordance with subsection (d). 

3 ‘‘(d) RECOGNITION OF OWNERS AND TENANTS.— 

4 ‘‘(1) OCCUPANCY-BASED RECOGNITION.—Not 

5 later than 1 year after the date on which the data 

6 described in subsection (c) is received, the Adminis7 trator of the Environmental Protection Agency shall, 

8 following an opportunity for public notice and com9 ment— 

10 ‘‘(A) in a manner similar to the Energy 

11 Star rating system, develop policies and proce12 dures to recognize tenants in commercial build13 ings that voluntarily achieve high levels of en14 ergy efficiency in separate spaces; 

15 ‘‘(B) establish building occupancy cat16 egories eligible for Tenant Star recognition 

17 based on the data collected under subsection 

18 (c)(1) and any associated results; and 

19 ‘‘(C) consider other forms of recognition 

20 for commercial building tenants or other occu21 pants that lower energy consumption in sepa22 rate spaces. 

23 ‘‘(2) DESIGN- AND CONSTRUCTION-BASED REC24 OGNITION.—After the study required by section 

25 424(b) is completed, the Administrator of the EnviVerDate Mar 15 2010 01:41 May 30, 2013 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2126.IH H2126

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1 ronmental Protection Agency, in consultation with 

2 the Secretary and following an opportunity for pub3 lic notice and comment, may develop a voluntary 

4 program to recognize commercial building owners 

5 and tenants that use high-performance energy effi6 ciency measures in the design and construction of 

7 separate spaces. 

8 ‘‘(e) EFFECT ON CLIMATE CHANGE.—For purposes 

9 of this section, the impact on climate change shall not be 

10 a factor in determining energy efficiency of commercial 

11 building tenants.’’. 

Æ 


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