IB 

Union Calendar No. 277 

113TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 2126 

[Report No. 113–371] 

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 

FEBRUARY 28, 2014 

Reported with an amendment, committed to the Committee of the Whole 

House on the State of the Union, and ordered to be printed 

[Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic] 

[For text of introduced bill, see copy of bill as introduced on May 23, 2013] 


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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. 


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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 2014’’. 

6 SEC. 2. ENERGY EFFICIENCY IN FEDERAL AND OTHER 

7 BUILDINGS. 

8 (a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

9 (1) ADMINISTRATOR.—The term ‘‘Adminis10 trator’’ means the Administrator of General Services. 

11 (2) COST-EFFECTIVE ENERGY EFFICIENCY MEAS12 URE.—The term ‘‘cost-effective energy efficiency meas13 ure’’ means any building product, material, equip14 ment, or service, and the installing, implementing, or 

15 operating thereof, that provides energy savings in an 

16 amount that is not less than the cost of such install17 ing, implementing, or operating. 

18 (3) COST-EFFECTIVE WATER EFFICIENCY MEAS19 URE.—The term ‘‘cost-effective water efficiency meas20 ure’’ means any building product, material, equip21 ment, or service, and the installing, implementing, or 

22 operating thereof, that provides water savings in an 

23 amount that is not less than the cost of such install24 ing, implementing, or operating. 


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1 (b) MODEL PROVISIONS, POLICIES, AND BEST PRAC2 TICES.— 

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

4 the date of enactment of this Act, the Administrator, 

5 in consultation with the Secretary of Energy and 

6 after providing the public with an opportunity for 

7 notice and comment, shall develop model leasing pro8 visions and best practices in accordance with this 

9 subsection. 

10 (2) COMMERCIAL LEASING.— 

11 (A) IN GENERAL.—The model commercial 

12 leasing provisions developed under this sub13 section shall, at a minimum, align the interests 

14 of building owners and tenants with regard to 

15 investments in cost-effective energy efficiency 

16 measures and cost-effective water efficiency meas17 ures to encourage building owners and tenants to 

18 collaborate to invest in such measures. 

19 (B) USE OF MODEL PROVISIONS.—The Ad20 ministrator may use the model provisions devel21 oped under this subsection in any standard leas22 ing document that designates a Federal agency 

23 (or other client of the Administrator) as a land24 lord or tenant. 


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1 (C) PUBLICATION.—The Administrator 

2 shall periodically publish the model leasing pro3 visions developed under this subsection, along 

4 with explanatory materials, to encourage build5 ing owners and tenants in the private sector to 

6 use such provisions and materials. 

7 (3) REALTY SERVICES.—The Administrator shall 

8 develop policies and practices to implement cost-effec9 tive energy efficiency measures and cost-effective 

10 water efficiency measures for the realty services pro11 vided by the Administrator to Federal agencies (or 

12 other clients of the Administrator), including periodic 

13 training of appropriate Federal employees and con14 tractors on how to identify and evaluate those meas15 ures. 

16 (4) STATE AND LOCAL ASSISTANCE.—The Ad17 ministrator, in consultation with the Secretary of En18 ergy, shall make available model leasing provisions 

19 and best practices developed under this subsection to 

20 State, county, and municipal governments to manage 

21 owned and leased building space in accordance with 

22 the goal of encouraging investment in all cost-effective 

23 energy efficiency measures and cost-effective water ef24 ficiency measures. 


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1 SEC. 3. SEPARATE SPACES WITH HIGH-PERFORMANCE EN2 ERGY EFFICIENCY MEASURES. 

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subtitle B of title IV of the Energy 

4 Independence and Security Act of 2007 (42 U.S.C. 17081 

5 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following: 

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

7 ENERGY EFFICIENCY MEASURES. 

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

9 ‘‘(1) HIGH-PERFORMANCE ENERGY EFFICIENCY

10 MEASURE.—The term ‘high-performance energy effi11 ciency measure’ means a technology, product, or prac12 tice that will result in substantial operational cost 

13 savings by reducing energy consumption and utility 

14 costs. 

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

16 spaces’ means areas within a commercial building 

17 that are leased or otherwise occupied by a tenant or 

18 other occupant for a period of time pursuant to the 

19 terms of a written agreement. 

20 ‘‘(b) STUDY.— 

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

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

23 acting through the Assistant Secretary of Energy Ef24 ficiency and Renewable Energy, shall complete a 

25 study on the feasibility of— 


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1 ‘‘(A) significantly improving energy effi2 ciency in commercial buildings through the de3 sign and construction, by owners and tenants, of 

4 separate spaces with high-performance energy ef5 ficiency measures; and 

6 ‘‘(B) encouraging owners and tenants to 

7 implement high-performance energy efficiency 

8 measures in separate spaces. 

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

10 include— 

11 ‘‘(A) descriptions of— 

12 ‘‘(i) high-performance energy efficiency 

13 measures that should be considered as part 

14 of the initial design and construction of sep15 arate spaces; 

16 ‘‘(ii) processes that owners, tenants, ar17 chitects, and engineers may replicate when 

18 designing and constructing separate spaces 

19 with high-performance energy efficiency 

20 measures; 

21 ‘‘(iii) policies and best practices to 

22 achieve reductions in energy intensities for 

23 lighting, plug loads, heating, cooling, cook24 ing, laundry, and other systems to satisfy 

25 the needs of the commercial building tenant; 


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1 ‘‘(iv) return on investment and pay2 back analyses of the incremental cost and 

3 projected energy savings of the proposed set 

4 of high-performance energy efficiency meas5 ures, including consideration of available 

6 incentives; 

7 ‘‘(v) models and simulation methods 

8 that predict the quantity of energy used by 

9 separate spaces with high-performance en10 ergy efficiency measures and that compare 

11 that predicted quantity to the quantity of 

12 energy used by separate spaces without 

13 high-performance energy efficiency measures 

14 but that otherwise comply with applicable 

15 building code requirements; 

16 ‘‘(vi) measurement and verification 

17 platforms demonstrating actual energy use 

18 of high-performance energy efficiency meas19 ures installed in separate spaces, and 

20 whether such measures generate the savings 

21 intended in the initial design and construc22 tion of the separate spaces; 

23 ‘‘(vii) best practices that encourage an 

24 integrated approach to designing and con25 structing separate spaces to perform at optiVerDate Mar 15 2010 20:37 Feb 28, 2014 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6203 E:\BILLS\H2126.RH H2126

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1 mum energy efficiency in conjunction with 

2 the central systems of a commercial build3 ing; and 

4 ‘‘(viii) any impact on employment re5 sulting from the design and construction of 

6 separate spaces with high-performance en7 ergy efficiency measures; and 

8 ‘‘(B) case studies reporting economic and 

9 energy savings returns in the design and con10 struction of separate spaces with high-perform11 ance energy efficiency measures. 

12 ‘‘(3) PUBLIC PARTICIPATION.—Not later than 90 

13 days after the date of the enactment of this section, 

14 the Secretary shall publish a notice in the Federal 

15 Register requesting public comments regarding effec16 tive methods, measures, and practices for the design 

17 and construction of separate spaces with high-per18 formance energy efficiency measures. 

19 ‘‘(4) PUBLICATION.—The Secretary shall publish 

20 the study on the website of the Department of En21 ergy.’’. 

22 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of contents in 

23 section 1(b) of the Energy Independence and Security Act 

24 of 2007 is amended by inserting after the item relating to 

25 section 423 the following new item: 

‘‘Sec. 424. Separate spaces with high-performance energy efficiency measures.’’. 


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1 SEC. 4. TENANT STAR PROGRAM. 

2 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subtitle B of title IV of the Energy 

3 Independence and Security Act of 2007 (42 U.S.C. 17081 

4 et seq.) (as amended by section 3) is amended by adding 

5 at the end the following: 

6 ‘‘SEC. 425. TENANT STAR PROGRAM. 

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

8 ‘‘(1) HIGH-PERFORMANCE ENERGY EFFICIENCY

9 MEASURE.—The term ‘high-performance energy effi10 ciency measure’ has the meaning given the term in 

11 section 424. 

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

13 spaces’ has the meaning given the term in section 

14 424. 

15 ‘‘(b) TENANT STAR.—The Administrator of the Envi16 ronmental Protection Agency, in consultation with the Sec17 retary of Energy, shall develop a voluntary program within 

18 the Energy Star program established by section 324A of the 

19 Energy Policy and Conservation Act (42 U.S.C. 6294a), 

20 which may be known as Tenant Star, to promote energy 

21 efficiency in separate spaces leased by tenants or otherwise 

22 occupied within commercial buildings. 

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

24 Energy, acting through the Administrator of the Energy In25 formation Administration, shall— 


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1 ‘‘(1) collect, through each Commercial Buildings 

2 Energy Consumption Survey of the Energy Informa3 tion Administration that is conducted after the date 

4 of enactment of this section, data on— 

5 ‘‘(A) categories of building occupancy that 

6 are known to consume significant quantities of 

7 energy, such as occupancy by data centers, trad8 ing floors, and restaurants; and 

9 ‘‘(B) other aspects of the property, building 

10 operation, or building occupancy determined by 

11 the Administrator of the Energy Information 

12 Administration, in consultation with the Admin13 istrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, 

14 to be relevant in lowering energy consumption; 

15 ‘‘(2) with respect to the first Commercial Build16 ings Energy Consumption Survey conducted after the 

17 date of enactment of this section, to the extent full 

18 compliance with the requirements of paragraph (1) is 

19 not feasible, conduct activities to develop the capa20 bility to collect such data and begin to collect such 

21 data; and 

22 ‘‘(3) make data collected under paragraphs (1) 

23 and (2) available to the public in aggregated form 

24 and provide such data, and any associated results, to 


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1 the 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 sufficient 

6 data is received pursuant to subsection (c), the Ad7 ministrator of the Environmental Protection Agency 

8 shall, following an opportunity for public notice and 

9 comment— 

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

11 Star rating system for commercial buildings, de12 velop policies and procedures to recognize ten13 ants in commercial buildings that voluntarily 

14 achieve high levels of energy efficiency in sepa15 rate spaces; 

16 ‘‘(B) establish building occupancy categories 

17 eligible for Tenant Star recognition based on the 

18 data collected under subsection (c) and any other 

19 appropriate data sources; and 

20 ‘‘(C) consider other forms of recognition for 

21 commercial building tenants or other occupants 

22 that lower energy consumption in separate 

23 spaces. 

24 ‘‘(2) DESIGN- AND CONSTRUCTION-BASED REC25 OGNITION.—After the study required by section 424(b) 


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1 is completed, the Administrator of the Environmental 

2 Protection Agency, in consultation with the Secretary 

3 and following an opportunity for public notice and 

4 comment, may develop a voluntary program to recog5 nize commercial building owners and tenants that use 

6 high-performance energy efficiency measures in the 

7 design and construction of separate spaces.’’. 

8 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of contents in 

9 section 1(b) of the Energy Independence and Security Act 

10 of 2007 is amended by inserting after the item relating to 

11 section 424 (as added by section 3(b)) the following new 

12 item: 

‘‘Sec. 425. Tenant Star program.’’. 


tkelley on DSK3SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
Union Calendar No. 277 

113TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 2126 

[Report No. 113–371] 

A BILL 

To facilitate better alignment, cooperation, and best 

buildings, and for other purposes. lords and tenants regarding energy efficiency in practices between commercial real estate landFEBRUARY 28, 2014 

Reported with an amendment, committed to the Comand ordered to be printed mittee of the Whole House on the State of the Union, 


tkelley on DSK3SPTVN1PROD with BILLS