I 

116TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 7417 

To direct the Secretary of Defense to set sustainability goals for the 

Department of Defense, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JUNE 30, 2020 

Mr. CASTEN of Illinois introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on Armed Services 

A BILL 

To direct the Secretary of Defense to set sustainability goals 

for the Department of Defense, 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 ‘‘National Security Re5 siliency and Sustainability Act of 2020’’. 

6 SEC. 2. RESILIENCY AND SUSTAINABILITY GOALS FOR THE 

7 DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE. 

8 (a) IN GENERAL.—For fiscal year 2021 and any sub9 sequent fiscal year, the Secretary of Defense shall— 


pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS
2 

•HR 7417 IH

1 (1) reduce energy intensity (measured in Brit2 ish thermal units per gross square foot) in buildings 

3 of the Department by 2.5 percent annually through 

4 the end of fiscal year 2027, relative to the baseline 

5 energy use in buildings of the Department in 2008 

6 by implementing efficiency measures. 

7 (2) improve data center energy efficiency at De8 partment facilities by— 

9 (A) ensuring the chief information officer 

10 of the Department promotes energy optimiza11 tion, efficiency, and performance in data cen12 ters; 

13 (B) installing and monitoring advanced en14 ergy meters in all data centers by 2023; and 

15 (C) establishing a power usage effective16 ness target of 1.2 to 1.4 for new data centers 

17 and less than 1.5 for existing data centers; 

18 (3) ensure that electric energy and thermal en19 ergy in Department buildings are comprised of clean 

20 energy, in amounts— 

21 (A) not less than 28 percent for fiscal 

22 years 2028 and 2029; 

23 (B) not less than 33 percent for fiscal 

24 years 2030 and 2031; 


pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS
3 

•HR 7417 IH

1 (C) not less than 37 percent for fiscal 

2 years 2032 and 2033; 

3 (D) not less than 39 percent for fiscal 

4 years 2034 and 2035; 

5 (E) not less than 42 percent for fiscal 

6 years 2036 and 2037; and 

7 (F) not less than 45 percent for fiscal year 

8 2038 and each year thereafter; 

9 (4) ensure that the percentage of the total 

10 amount of electric energy consumed by the Depart11 ment that is clean energy is— 

12 (A) not less than 28 percent for fiscal year 

13 2025; 

14 (B) not less than 30 percent for fiscal 

15 years 2026 and 2027; 

16 (C) not less than 33 percent for fiscal 

17 years 2028 and 2029; 

18 (D) not less than 37 percent for fiscal 

19 years 2030 and 2031; 

20 (E) not less than 40 percent for fiscal 

21 years 2032 and 2033; 

22 (F) not less than 43 percent for fiscal 

23 years 2034 and 2035; 

24 (G) not less than 46 percent for fiscal 

25 years 2036 and 2037; and 


pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS
4 

•HR 7417 IH

1 (H) not less than 50 percent for fiscal year 

2 2038 and each year thereafter; 

3 (5) ensure that all clean energy capacity added 

4 between 2021 and 2040 comes from sources based 

5 on projects that are not in operation as of the date 

6 of the installation or signing of any financial agree7 ment for the purchase of the clean electric or ther8 mal energy; 

9 (6) include in the electric energy portion of the 

10 clean energy requirements established in paragraphs 

11 (3) and (4), and retain all renewable energy certifi12 cates and clean energy attributes for, clean electric 

13 energy associated with— 

14 (A) installing clean energy on site at De15 partment facilities; 

16 (B) contracting for the purchase of energy, 

17 which includes— 

18 (i) the installation of renewable en19 ergy on site at a Department facility or off 

20 site from a Department facility; and 

21 (ii) the installation of clean energy op22 erating or owned by a third party on site 

23 of a Department facility that is directly 

24 serving local loads, and for which the facil25 ity has a commitment to procure, for a 


pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS
5 

•HR 7417 IH

1 contract period of not less than 10 years 

2 and up to a period of 40 years, the lesser 

3 of— 

4 (I) 100 percent of clean energy 

5 asset output; or 

6 (II) 100 percent of facility energy 

7 needs; and 

8 (iii) a contract for differences with a 

9 minimum off-take period of 10 years, and 

10 up to a period of 40 years, for the installa11 tion of clean energy not physically located 

12 on site at a Department facility nor elec13 trically connected to the facility, for which 

14 the department agrees to procure the en15 ergy (in MWh), as well as corresponding 

16 renewable energy certificates, and clean en17 ergy attributes, at a defined price for the 

18 period of the contract; 

19 (7) include, in the thermal electric energy por20 tion of the clean energy requirement established in 

21 paragraph (3), clean energy associated with— 

22 (A) installing thermal clean energy on site 

23 at Department facilities and retaining cor24 responding renewable and clean attributes; and 


pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS
6 

•HR 7417 IH

1 (B) fulfilling the requirements of the en2 ergy policy of the Department as provided in 

3 section 2911 of title 10, United States Code; 

4 (8) improve water use efficiency and manage5 ment, including stormwater management, by— 

6 (A) reducing potable water consumption 

7 intensity, measured in gallons per gross square 

8 foot, by 36 percent by fiscal year 2025 through 

9 reductions of 2 percent annually through fiscal 

10 year 2025 relative to a baseline of the water 

11 consumption of the Department in fiscal year 

12 2007; 

13 (B) installing water meters and collecting 

14 and using building and facility water balance 

15 data to improve water conservation and man16 agement; 

17 (C) reducing the industrial, landscaping, 

18 and agricultural water consumption, measured 

19 in gallons, by 2 percent annually through fiscal 

20 year 2025 relative to a baseline of the indus21 trial, landscaping, and agricultural water con22 sumption of the Department during fiscal year 

23 2010; and 


pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS
7 

•HR 7417 IH

1 (D) installing appropriate green infrastruc2 ture features on Department property to help 

3 with stormwater and wastewater management; 

4 (9) improve building efficiency, performance, 

5 and management by— 

6 (A) ensuring, for fiscal year 2021 and each 

7 subsequent fiscal year, that the new construc8 tion of any Department building larger than 

9 5,000 gross square feet that enters the plan10 ning process is designed to achieve energy net11 zero and, water or waste net-zero by fiscal year 

12 2035; 

13 (B) identifying, beginning in fiscal year 

14 2021, as part of the planning requirements of 

15 section 3, a percentage of at least 15 percent, 

16 measured by number or total square footage, of 

17 the existing Department buildings larger than 

18 5,000 gross square feet that will, by fiscal year 

19 2030, comply with the revised Guiding Prin20 ciples for Federal Leadership in High Perform21 ance and Sustainable Buildings (Guiding Prin22 ciples), and will reach 100 percent conformance 

23 with the Guiding Principles for building inven24 tory by 2050; 


pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS
8 

•HR 7417 IH

1 (C) identifying, as part of the planning re2 quirements of this section, a percentage of the 

3 existing buildings of the Department that are 

4 larger than 5,000 gross square feet and in5 tended to be energy, waste, or water net-zero 

6 buildings by fiscal year 2030, and implementing 

7 actions that will allow those buildings to meet 

8 that target; 

9 (D) including in all new Department lease 

10 solicitations for buildings or facilities larger 

11 than 10,000 rentable square feet— 

12 (i) criteria for energy efficiency either 

13 as a required performance specification or 

14 as a source selection evaluation factor in 

15 best-value tradeoff procurements; and 

16 (ii) requirements for building lessor 

17 disclosure of carbon emission or energy 

18 consumption data for any portion of the 

19 building occupied by the Department that 

20 may be provided by the lessor through sub21 metering or estimation from prorated occu22 pancy data, whichever is more cost-effec23 tive; 

24 (E) including in the planning for new 

25 buildings or leases cost-effective strategies to 


pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS
9 

•HR 7417 IH

1 optimize sustainable space usage and consider2 ation of existing community transportation 

3 planning and infrastructure, including access to 

4 public transit; and 

5 (F) including the incorporation of climate6 resilient design and management elements into 

7 the operation, repair, and renovation of existing 

8 Department buildings and the design of new 

9 Department buildings; 

10 (10) promote sustainable acquisition and pro11 curement by ensuring that environmental perform12 ance and sustainability factors are included for all 

13 applicable procurements in the planning, award, and 

14 execution phases of the acquisition by— 

15 (A) preferentially purchasing— 

16 (i) recycled content products des17 ignated by the Environmental Protection 

18 Agency; 

19 (ii) energy and water efficient prod20 ucts and services identified by the Environ21 mental Protection Agency and the Depart22 ment of Energy; and 

23 (iii) BioPreferred and biobased prod24 ucts, as designated by the Department of 

25 Agriculture; 


pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS
10 

•HR 7417 IH

1 (B) purchasing sustainable products and 

2 services identified by the Environmental Protec3 tion Agency; 

4 (C) purchasing products or services that— 

5 (i) meet or exceed specifications, 

6 standards, or labels recommended by the 

7 Environmental Protection Agency that 

8 have been determined to assist agencies in 

9 meeting their needs and further advance 

10 sustainable procurement goals; or 

11 (ii) meet environmental performance 

12 criteria developed or adopted by voluntary 

13 consensus standards bodies consistent with 

14 section 12(d) of the National Technology 

15 Transfer and Advancement Act of 1995 

16 (15 U.S.C. 272 note(d)); 

17 (D) acting, as part of the implementation 

18 of planning requirements under section 3, until 

19 the Department achieves at least 95 percent 

20 compliance with the BioPreferred and biobased 

21 purchasing requirement in this paragraph, to— 

22 (i) establish annual targets for the 

23 number of contracts to be awarded with 

24 BioPreferred and biobased criteria and the 

25 dollar value of BioPreferred and biobased 


pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS
11 

•HR 7417 IH

1 products to be delivered and reported 

2 under those contracts in the following fis3 cal year, by considering— 

4 (I) the dollar value of designated 

5 BioPreferred and biobased products 

6 reported in previous years; 

7 (II) the specifications reviewed 

8 and revised for inclusion of BioPre9 ferred and biobased products; and 

10 (III) the number of applicable 

11 product and service contracts to be 

12 awarded, including construction, oper13 ations and maintenance, food services, 

14 vehicle maintenance, and janitorial 

15 services; and 

16 (ii) ensure contractors submit timely 

17 annual reports on BioPreferred and 

18 biobased purchases; and 

19 (E) reducing copier and printing paper use 

20 and acquiring uncoated printing and writing 

21 paper containing at least 30 percent post-con22 sumer recycled content or greater; and 

23 (11) implement energy savings performance 

24 contracts for Department buildings by— 


pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS
12 

•HR 7417 IH

1 (A) using energy savings performance con2 tracting as a tool to help meet energy efficiency 

3 and management goals while implementing life4 cycle cost-effective energy efficiency and clean 

5 energy technology and water conservation meas6 ures; and 

7 (B) providing annual Department targets 

8 for performance contracting for energy savings 

9 for fiscal year 2021 and subsequent fiscal years 

10 as part of the planning requirements of section 

11 3. 

12 (b) STRATEGIC SUSTAINABILITY PERFORMANCE

13 PLAN.—For each of fiscal years 2021 through 2040, the 

14 Secretary of Defense shall develop, implement, and annu15 ally update an integrated Strategic Sustainability Per16 formance Plan for the Department. Not later than 180 

17 days before the end of the fiscal year, each year the Sec18 retary shall submit to Congress the plan for the Depart19 ment for the subsequent fiscal year. Each such plan shall 

20 be made publicly available on the website of the Depart21 ment. 

22 (c) LIMITATIONS.—This section shall apply with re23 spect to activities, personnel, resources, and facilities of 

24 the Department that are located within the United States. 

25 The Secretary of Defense may provide that this section 


pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS
13 

•HR 7417 IH

1 shall apply in whole or in part with respect to the activi2 ties, personnel, resources, and facilities of the Department 

3 that are not located within the United States, if the Sec4 retary determines that such application is in the interest 

5 of the United States. 

6 (d) WAIVER AUTHORITY.— 

7 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Defense 

8 may waive the requirements of this section with re9 spect to a particular activity or facility of the De10 partment if the Secretary determines such a waiver 

11 is in the national security interests of the United 

12 States. 

13 (2) NOTICE.—Not later than 30 days after the 

14 Secretary issues a waiver under subsection (a), the 

15 Secretary shall submit to the chair and ranking 

16 member of the Committees on Armed Services of the 

17 Senate and House of Representatives notice of the 

18 waiver and the reason for the waiver. 

19 (e) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

20 (1) The term ‘‘advanced energy meters’’ means 

21 those energy meters that meet the requirements for 

22 certification as defined by the Leadership in Energy 

23 and Environmental Design (LEED) program as 

24 maintained by the U.S. Green Building Council 

25 (USGBC). 


pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS
14 

•HR 7417 IH

1 (2) The term ‘‘average greenhouse gas intensity 

2 of power generation on the United States electric 

3 grid’’ means the total net greenhouse gas emissions 

4 from the electricity sector in the previous fiscal year 

5 as measured in carbon dioxide equivalents and deter6 mined by the Energy Information Administration in 

7 consultation with the Environmental Protection 

8 Agency, divided by the national net power generation 

9 over the same period as determined by the Energy 

10 Information Administration. 

11 (3) The term ‘‘best-value tradeoff procure12 ments’’ means a process by which the Government 

13 considers whether it is in the best interest of the 

14 Government to award a contract to an entity other 

15 than the lowest price offeror or other than the high16 est technically rated offeror based on established 

17 evaluation factors. 

18 (4) The term ‘‘clean energy’’ means any energy 

19 produced by a generation project that is at least 50 

20 percent less greenhouse gas intensive on a marginal 

21 basis as measured by carbon dioxide equivalents per 

22 megawatt-hour than the average greenhouse gas in23 tensity of power generation on the United States 

24 electric grid over the previous fiscal year at the time 

25 of contracting. 


pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS
15 

•HR 7417 IH

1 (5) The term ‘‘clean energy attributes’’ means 

2 the technology and non-energy attributes that rep3 resent proof that 1 megawatt-hour of electricity was 

4 generated from an eligible clean energy resource, 

5 that can be sold separately from the underlying ge6 neric electricity with which they are associated by 

7 sources of clean energy placed into service within 10 

8 years prior to the start of the fiscal year. 

9 (6) The term ‘‘climate resilient design’’ means 

10 to design assets to prepare for, withstand, respond 

11 to, or quickly recover from disruptions due to severe 

12 weather events and climate change for the intended 

13 life of the asset. 

14 (7) The term ‘‘Department facility’’ means any 

15 building or collection of buildings, grounds, or struc16 tures, as well as any fixture or part thereof, which 

17 is owned by the Department of Defense or that is 

18 held by the Department under a lease-acquisition 

19 agreement under which the Department will receive 

20 fee simple title under the terms of such agreement 

21 without further negotiation. 

22 (8) The term ‘‘energy net zero’’ means a build23 ing where the total energy used by the building on 

24 an annual basis is equal to the amount of clean en25 ergy created in site. 


pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS
16 

•HR 7417 IH

1 (9) The term ‘‘equal value replacement renew2 able energy certificates’’ means a quantity of renew3 able energy certificates equal to the number of 

4 megawatt-hours of clean electricity generated from 

5 an eligible renewable energy resource. 

6 (10) The term ‘‘greenhouse gas’’ means carbon 

7 dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, hydrofluorocarbons, 

8 perfluorocarbons, nitrogen triflouride, sulfur 

9 hexafluoride, and any other substance so identified 

10 by the Administrator of the Environmental Protec11 tion Agency. 

12 (11) The term ‘‘greenhouse gas intensity on a 

13 marginal basis’’ means the marginal fossil fuel use 

14 multiplied by the lower heating value of the fossil 

15 fuel, as defined by the Energy Information Adminis16 tration, multiplied by the carbon dioxide emissions 

17 coefficients of the fossil fuel, as defined by the En18 ergy Information Administration. If a project uses 

19 no fossil fuel, the marginal greenhouse gas emissions 

20 are defined as zero. 

21 (12) The term ‘‘green infrastructure features’’ 

22 means features of infrastructure which use natural 

23 hydrologic features to manage water and provide en24 vironmental and community benefits. 


pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS
17 

•HR 7417 IH

1 (13) The term ‘‘life-cycle cost-effective’’ means 

2 the costs of a product, project, or measure during 

3 the life of the product, project, or measure are esti4 mated to be equal to or less than the current or 

5 standard practice or product. 

6 (14) The term ‘‘marginal greenhouse gas emis7 sions’’ means the marginal fossil fuel use multiplied 

8 by the lower heating value of the fossil fuel, as de9 fined by the Energy Information Administration, 

10 multiplied by the carbon dioxide emissions coeffi11 cients of the fossil fuel, as defined by the Energy In12 formation Administration. If a project uses no fossil 

13 fuel, the marginal greenhouse gas emissions are de14 fined as zero. 

15 (15) The term ‘‘marginal fossil fuel use’’ means 

16 the fossil fuel combusted to produce energy by the 

17 project, measured in metric tons per year, minus 

18 any existing fossil combustion, measured in metric 

19 tons per year, within the same system that is deter20 mined by the Administrator of the Environmental 

21 Protection Agency in consultation with the Secretary 

22 of Energy and Administrator of the Energy Infor23 mation Administration to be necessary to the pro24 duction of the contracted energy generation and 


pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS
18 

•HR 7417 IH

1 would have been consumed regardless of the addition 

2 of the contracted energy generation. 

3 (16) The term ‘‘energy savings performance 

4 contract’’ means a contract that— 

5 (A) provides for the performance of serv6 ices for the design, acquisition, installation, 

7 testing, and, where appropriate, operation, 

8 maintenance, and repair, of an identified energy 

9 conservation measure or series of measures at 

10 1 or more locations; and 

11 (B) with respect to an agency facility that 

12 is a public building (as such term is defined in 

13 section 3301 of title 40, United States Code), 

14 is in compliance with the prospectus require15 ments and procedures of section 3307 of title 

16 40, United States Code. 

17 (17) The term ‘‘power usage effectiveness’’ 

18 means the ratio obtained by dividing the total 

19 amount of electricity and other power consumed in 

20 running a data center by the power consumed by the 

21 information and communications technology in the 

22 data center. 

23 (18) The term ‘‘renewable attributes’’ means 

24 the environmental benefits associated with 1 megaVerDate Sep 11 2014 23:32 Jul 26, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00018 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7417.IH H7417

pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS
19 

•HR 7417 IH

1 watt-hour of electricity generated from a renewable 

2 energy resource. 

3 (19) The term ‘‘renewable energy certificate’’ 

4 means the technology and non-energy attributes that 

5 represent proof that 1 megawatt-hour of electricity 

6 was generated from an eligible renewable energy re7 source, that can be sold separately from the under8 lying generic electricity with which they are associ9 ated and were produced by sources of renewable en10 ergy placed into service within 10 years prior to the 

11 start of the fiscal year. 

12 (20) The term ‘‘resiliency’’ means the ability to 

13 maintain or quickly restore functionality or use of 

14 applicable infrastructure following a disruptive exter15 nal event including, but not limited to, severe 

16 storms, extreme heat, flooding, and earthquakes. 

17 (21) The term ‘‘source selection evaluation fac18 tor’’ means factors an agency uses to determine 

19 which of several competing proposals submitted in 

20 response to an request for proposal would best meet 

21 the agency’s needs. 

22 (22) The term ‘‘sustainability’’ means a meas23 ure of the ability of a development, infrastructure 

24 project, or of general Department operations to meet 

25 current operational needs without compromising the 


pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS
20 

•HR 7417 IH

1 ability of future generations to meet these needs 

2 through the depletion of strategic resources, long3 term environmental harm or pollution, contributing 

4 to an unsafe climate, or any other measures as 

5 deemed by the Secretary with consultation from the 

6 Administrator of the Environmental Protection 

7 Agency and Chair of the Council on Environmental 

8 Quality. 

9 (23) The term ‘‘United States’’ means the fifty 

10 States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth 

11 of Puerto Rico, Guam, American Samoa, the United 

12 States Virgin Islands, and the Northern Mariana Is13 lands, and associated territorial waters and airspace. 

14 (24) The term ‘‘waste net zero’’ refers to any 

15 building which through the reduction, reuse, recy16 cling, composting, or recovery of solid waste streams 

17 (with the exception of any hazardous materials or 

18 medical waste) results in the elimination of any 

19 waste that is sent for disposal to landfills or inciner20 ators. 

21 (25) The term ‘‘water balance’’ means a com22 parison of the water supplied to a defined system to 

23 the water consumed by that system in order to iden24 tify the proportion of water consumed for specific 


pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS
21 

•HR 7417 IH

1 end-uses and ensure potential water leaks in the sys2 tem are addressed. 

3 (26) The term ‘‘water net zero’’ means any 

4 building which returns water to the original water 

5 source such that the annual water consumption is 

6 equivalent to the alternative water use plus water re7 turned to the original source over the course of a 

8 year through practices that minimize total water 

9 consumption, maximize alternative water sources, 

10 and minimize wastewater discharge from the build11 ing. 

Æ 


pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS