I 

115TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 7197 

To authorize the Secretary of Energy to make grants to local educational 

agencies for purposes of supporting renewable energy-based heating and 

cooling systems in schools. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

NOVEMBER 29, 2018 

Miss RICE of New York introduced the following bill; which was referred to 

the Committee on Education and the Workforce 

A BILL 

To authorize the Secretary of Energy to make grants to 

local educational agencies for purposes of supporting renewable energy-based heating and cooling systems in 

schools. 

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 ‘‘Renewable HVAC En5 ergy And Technology for Schools Act’’ or the ‘‘Renewable 

6 HEAT for Schools Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. RENEWABLE ENERGY HEATING AND COOLING SYS2 TEMS GRANT PROGRAM. 

3 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Secretary of Energy 

4 shall, from funds appropriated pursuant to subsection (g), 

5 make grants to local educational agencies for purposes of 

6 encouraging schools to use heating and cooling systems 

7 that use renewable energy. 

8 (b) APPLICATION.—To be eligible to receive a grant 

9 under this section, a local educational agency shall submit 

10 an application to the Secretary, in a time and manner to 

11 be prescribed by the Secretary, that identifies proposed 

12 projects such grant would be used to fund. 

13 (c) SELECTION.—In selecting grant recipients, the 

14 Secretary shall give priority to applicants whose applica15 tions— 

16 (1) propose projects that address the needs of 

17 schools with heating or cooling systems in need of 

18 immediate replacement; and 

19 (2) propose an effective plan for the evaluation, 

20 measurement, and verification of energy savings. 

21 (d) USE OF FUNDS.—Funds made available by a 

22 grant made under this section may be used by a recipient 

23 only to— 

24 (1) install a heating or cooling system that uses 

25 renewable energy in an elementary school or sec26 ondary school; or 


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1 (2) maintain and repair such a system installed 

2 using funds from a grant made under this section. 

3 (e) COST-SHARING.—A local educational agency that 

4 receives a grant under this section shall provide, from non5 Federal sources, not less than 50 percent of the funds for 

6 the total cost of each project funded by such grant. The 

7 non-Federal share may be provided in the form of in-kind 

8 contributions. 

9 (f) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

10 (1) ELEMENTARY SCHOOL.—The term ‘‘elemen11 tary school’’ has the meaning given such term in 

12 section 8101 of the Elementary and Secondary Edu13 cation Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7801). 

14 (2) GEOTHERMAL HEAT PUMP.—The term 

15 ‘‘geothermal heat pump’’ means a system that pro16 vides heating and cooling by exchanging heat di17 rectly or indirectly with the ground using— 

18 (A) a closed loop system, which transfers 

19 heat by way of buried or immersed pipes that 

20 contain a mix of water and working fluid; 

21 (B) an open loop system, which circulates 

22 ground or surface water directly into the build23 ing and returns the water to the same aquifer 

24 or surface water source; or 


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1 (C) a food grade plate heat exchanger to 

2 transfer heat between a municipal or private 

3 potable water supply system and a closed inte4 rior loop employing heat pumps, in which the 

5 potable water utilized could be returned to the 

6 municipal or private supply system after pass7 ing through the heat exchanger. 

8 (3) LOCAL EDUCATIONAL AGENCY.—The term 

9 ‘‘local educational agency’’ has the meaning given 

10 such term in section 8101 of the Elementary and 

11 Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7801). 

12 (4) RENEWABLE ENERGY.—The term ‘‘renew13 able energy’’ means energy generated from— 

14 (A) a renewable energy resource, as de15 fined in section 403(2) of the Renewable En16 ergy Resources Act of 1980 (42 U.S.C. 

17 7372(2)); 

18 (B) geothermal resources, including a geo19 thermal heat pump; or 

20 (C) any other source the Secretary deter21 mines appropriate for purposes of this section. 

22 (5) SECONDARY SCHOOL.—The term ‘‘sec23 ondary school’’ has the meaning given such term in 

24 section 8101 of the Elementary and Secondary Edu25 cation Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7801). 


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1 (6) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 

2 the Secretary of Energy. 

3 (g) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

4 are authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary 

5 $10,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2019 through 2023 

6 for purposes of carrying out this section. 

Æ 


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