II 

113TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1191 

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 SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JUNE 19, 2013 

Mr. BENNET (for himself and Ms. AYOTTE) introduced the following bill; 

which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources 

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’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. SEPARATE SPACES WITH HIGH-PERFORMANCE EN2 ERGY EFFICIENCY MEASURES. 

3 Subtitle B of title IV of the Energy Independence and 

4 Security Act of 2007 (42 U.S.C. 17081 et seq.) is amend5 ed 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 

12 practice that will result in substantial operational 

13 cost savings by reducing energy consumption and 

14 utility 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 

24 Efficiency 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, 

4 of separate spaces with high-performance en5 ergy efficiency 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 effi13 ciency measures that should be considered 

14 as part of the initial design and construc15 tion of separate spaces; 

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

17 architects, and engineers may replicate 

18 when designing and constructing separate 

19 spaces with high-performance energy effi20 ciency measures; 

21 ‘‘(iii) standards and best practices to 

22 achieve appropriate energy intensities for 

23 lighting, plug loads, pipe loads, heating, 

24 cooling, cooking, laundry, and other sysVerDate Mar 15 2010 03:58 Jun 22, 2013 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1191.IS S1191

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1 tems to satisfy the needs of the commercial 

2 building tenant; 

3 ‘‘(iv) return on investment and pay4 back analyses of the incremental cost and 

5 projected energy savings of the proposed 

6 set of high-performance energy efficiency 

7 measures, including consideration of tax 

8 and other available incentives; 

9 ‘‘(v) models and simulation methods 

10 that predict the quantity of energy used by 

11 separate spaces with high-performance en12 ergy efficiency measures and that compare 

13 that predicted quantity to the quantity of 

14 energy used by separate spaces without 

15 high-performance energy efficiency meas16 ures but that otherwise comply with appli17 cable building code requirements; 

18 ‘‘(vi) measurement and verification 

19 platforms demonstrating actual energy use 

20 of high-performance energy efficiency 

21 measures installed in separate spaces, and 

22 whether the measures generate the savings 

23 intended in the initial design and construc24 tion of the separate spaces; 


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1 ‘‘(vii) best practices that encourage an 

2 integrated approach to designing and con3 structing separate spaces to perform at op4 timum energy efficiency in conjunction 

5 with the central systems of a commercial 

6 building; and 

7 ‘‘(viii) any impact on employment re8 sulting from the design and construction of 

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

11 ‘‘(B) case studies reporting economic and 

12 energy saving returns in the design and con13 struction of separate spaces with high-perform14 ance energy efficiency measures. 

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

16 90 days after the date of enactment of this section, 

17 the Secretary shall publish a notice in the Federal 

18 Register requesting public comments regarding ef19 fective methods, measures, and practices for the de20 sign and construction of separate spaces with high21 performance energy efficiency measures. 

22 ‘‘(4) PUBLICATION.—The Secretary shall pub23 lish the study on the website of the Department of 

24 Energy.’’. 


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1 SEC. 3. TENANT STAR PROGRAM. 

2 Subtitle B of title IV of the Energy Independence and 

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

4 amended by section 2) is amended by adding at the end 

5 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 and the Secretary shall de17 velop a voluntary program within the Energy Star pro18 gram established by section 324A of the Energy Policy 

19 and Conservation Act (42 U.S.C. 6294a), which may be 

20 known as Tenant Star, to promote energy efficiency in 

21 separate spaces leased by tenants or otherwise occupied 

22 within commercial buildings. 

23 ‘‘(c) AGREEMENTS.—Responsibilities under the pro24 gram developed under subsection (b) shall be divided be25 tween the Secretary and the Administrator of the Environ26 mental Protection Agency in accordance with the terms 


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1 of applicable agreements between the Secretary and the 

2 Administrator. 

3 ‘‘(d) EXPANDING SURVEY DATA.—The Secretary, 

4 acting through the Administrator of the Energy Informa5 tion Administration, shall— 

6 ‘‘(1) collect, through each Commercial Building 

7 Energy Consumption Survey of the Energy Informa8 tion Administration that is conducted after the date 

9 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 the data, and any associated results, to the AdVerDate Mar 15 2010 03:58 Jun 22, 2013 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1191.IS S1191

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1 ministrator of the Environmental Protection Agency 

2 for use in accordance with subsection (e). 

3 ‘‘(e) 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 (d) is received, the Secretary 

7 and the Administrator of the Environmental Protec8 tion Agency shall, following an opportunity for pub9 lic notice and comment— 

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

11 Star rating system for commercial buildings, 

12 develop voluntary policies and procedures to 

13 recognize tenants that voluntarily achieve high 

14 levels of energy 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 (d)(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 under section 

25 424(b) is completed and following an opportunity for 


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1 public notice and comment, the Administrator of the 

2 Environmental Protection and the Secretary may de3 velop a voluntary program to recognize commercial 

4 building owners and tenants that use high-perform5 ance energy efficiency measures in the design and 

6 construction of separate spaces. 

7 ‘‘(f) EFFECT ON CLIMATE CHANGE.—For purposes 

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

9 a factor in determining the energy efficiency of commercial 

10 building tenants.’’. 

Æ 


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