I 

115TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 5069 

To establish the Federal Smart Building Program to implement smart building technology and demonstrate the costs and benefits of smart buildings, 

and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

FEBRUARY 16, 2018 

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

which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, and in 

addition to the Committees on Transportation and Infrastructure, and 

Science, Space, and Technology, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions 

as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 

A BILL 

To establish the Federal Smart Building Program to implement smart building technology and demonstrate the 

costs and benefits of smart 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 ‘‘Smart Building Accel5 eration Act of 2018’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

2 Congress finds that— 

3 (1) the building sector uses more than 40 per4 cent of the energy of the United States; 

5 (2) emerging building energy monitoring and 

6 control technologies are enabling a transition of the 

7 building sector to ‘‘smart’’ buildings that have dra8 matically reduced energy use and improved quality 

9 of service to occupants; 

10 (3) an analysis of select private-sector smart 

11 buildings by the Department of Energy would docu12 ment the costs and benefits of the emerging tech13 nologies, promote the adoption of the technologies, 

14 and accelerate the transition to the technologies; 

15 (4) with over 400,000 buildings, the Federal 

16 Government is the largest building owner in the 

17 United States; and 

18 (5) the Federal Government can also accelerate 

19 the transition to smart building technologies by dem20 onstrating and evaluating emerging smart building 

21 technologies using existing programs and funding to 

22 showcase selected Federal smart buildings. 

23 SEC. 3. SMART BUILDING ACCELERATION. 

24 (a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

25 (1) INTERNET OF THINGS TECHNOLOGY SOLU26 TION.—The term ‘‘internet of things technology soVerDate Sep 11 2014 23:32 Feb 23, 2018 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5069.IH H5069

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1 lution’’ means a solution that improves energy effi2 ciency and predictive maintenance through cutting3 edge technologies that utilize internet connected 

4 technologies including sensors, intelligent gateways, 

5 and security embedded hardware. 

6 (2) PROGRAM.—The term ‘‘program’’ means 

7 the Federal Smart Building Program established 

8 under subsection (b)(1). 

9 (3) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 

10 the Secretary of Energy. 

11 (4) SMART BUILDING.—The term ‘‘smart build12 ing’’ means a building, or collection of buildings, 

13 with an energy system that— 

14 (A) is flexible and automated; 

15 (B) has extensive operational monitoring 

16 and communication connectivity, allowing re17 mote monitoring and analysis of all building 

18 functions; 

19 (C) takes a systems-based approach in in20 tegrating the overall building operations for 

21 control of energy generation, consumption, and 

22 storage; 

23 (D) communicates with utilities and other 

24 third-party commercial entities, if appropriate; 


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1 (E) protects the health and safety of occu2 pants and workers; and 

3 (F) is cybersecure. 

4 (5) SMART BUILDING ACCELERATOR.—The 

5 term ‘‘smart building accelerator’’ means an initia6 tive that is designed to demonstrate specific innova7 tive policies and approaches— 

8 (A) with clear goals and a clear timeline; 

9 and 

10 (B) that, on successful demonstration, 

11 would accelerate investment in energy effi12 ciency. 

13 (b) FEDERAL SMART BUILDING PROGRAM.— 

14 (1) ESTABLISHMENT.—Not later than 1 year 

15 after the date of enactment of this Act, the Sec16 retary shall, in consultation with the Administrator 

17 of General Services, establish a program to be 

18 known as the Federal Smart Building Program— 

19 (A) to implement smart building tech20 nology; and 

21 (B) to demonstrate the costs and benefits 

22 of smart buildings. 

23 (2) SELECTION.— 

24 (A) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall co25 ordinate the selection of not fewer than 1 buildVerDate Sep 11 2014 23:32 Feb 23, 2018 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5069.IH H5069

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1 ing from among each of several key Federal 

2 agencies, as described in paragraph (4), to com3 pose an appropriately diverse set of smart 

4 buildings based on size, type, and geographic lo5 cation. 

6 (B) INCLUSION OF COMMERCIALLY OPER7 ATED BUILDINGS.—In making selections under 

8 subparagraph (A), the Secretary may include 

9 buildings that are owned by the Federal Gov10 ernment but are commercially operated. 

11 (3) TARGETS.—Not later than 18 months after 

12 the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary 

13 shall establish targets for the number of smart 

14 buildings to be commissioned and evaluated by key 

15 Federal agencies by 3 years and 6 years after the 

16 date of enactment of this Act. 

17 (4) FEDERAL AGENCY DESCRIBED.—The key 

18 Federal agencies referred to in this subsection shall 

19 include buildings operated by— 

20 (A) the Department of the Army; 

21 (B) the Department of the Navy; 

22 (C) the Department of the Air Force; 

23 (D) the Department; 

24 (E) the Department of the Interior; 


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1 (F) the Department of Veterans Affairs; 

2 and 

3 (G) the General Services Administration. 

4 (5) REQUIREMENT.—In implementing the pro5 gram, the Secretary shall leverage existing financing 

6 mechanisms including energy savings performance 

7 contracts, utility energy service contracts, and an8 nual appropriations. 

9 (6) EVALUATION.—Using the guidelines of the 

10 Federal Energy Management Program relating to 

11 whole-building evaluation, measurement, and verifi12 cation, the Secretary shall evaluate the costs and 

13 benefits of the buildings selected under paragraph 

14 (2), including an identification of— 

15 (A) which advanced building technolo16 gies— 

17 (i) are most cost-effective; and 

18 (ii) show the most promise for— 

19 (I) increasing building energy 

20 savings; 

21 (II) increasing service perform22 ance to building occupants; 

23 (III) reducing environmental im24 pacts; and 


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1 (IV) establishing cybersecurity; 

2 and 

3 (B) any other information the Secretary 

4 determines to be appropriate. 

5 (7) AWARDS.—The Secretary may expand 

6 awards made under the Federal Energy Manage7 ment Program and the Better Building Challenge to 

8 recognize specific agency achievements in accel9 erating the adoption of smart building technologies. 

10 (c) SURVEY OF PRIVATE SECTOR SMART BUILD11 INGS.— 

12 (1) SURVEY.—The Secretary shall conduct a 

13 survey of privately owned smart buildings through14 out the United States, including commercial build15 ings, laboratory facilities, hospitals, multifamily resi16 dential buildings, and buildings owned by nonprofit 

17 organizations and institutions of higher education. 

18 (2) SELECTION.—From among the smart build19 ings surveyed under paragraph (1), the Secretary 

20 shall select not fewer than 1 building each from an 

21 appropriate range of building sizes, types, and geo22 graphic locations. 

23 (3) EVALUATION.—Using the guidelines of the 

24 Federal Energy Management Program relating to 

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1 cation, the Secretary shall evaluate the costs and 

2 benefits of the buildings selected under paragraph 

3 (2), including an identification of— 

4 (A) which advanced building technologies 

5 and systems— 

6 (i) are most cost-effective; and 

7 (ii) show the most promise for— 

8 (I) increasing building energy 

9 savings; 

10 (II) increasing service perform11 ance to building occupants; 

12 (III) reducing environmental im13 pacts; and 

14 (IV) establishing cybersecurity; 

15 and 

16 (B) any other information the Secretary 

17 determines to be appropriate. 

18 (d) LEVERAGING EXISTING PROGRAMS.— 

19 (1) BETTER BUILDING CHALLENGE.—As part 

20 of the Better Building Challenge of the Department, 

21 the Secretary, in consultation with major private 

22 sector property owners, shall develop smart building 

23 accelerators to demonstrate innovative policies and 

24 approaches that will accelerate the transition to 


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1 smart buildings in the public, institutional, and com2 mercial buildings sectors. 

3 (2) RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT.— 

4 (A) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall 

5 conduct research and development to address 

6 key barriers to the integration of advanced 

7 building technologies and to accelerate the tran8 sition to smart buildings. 

9 (B) INCLUSION.—The research and devel10 opment conducted under subparagraph (A) 

11 shall include research and development on— 

12 (i) achieving whole-building, systems13 level efficiency through smart system and 

14 component integration; 

15 (ii) improving physical components, 

16 such as sensors and controls, to be adapt17 ive, anticipatory, and networked; 

18 (iii) integration of internet of things 

19 technology solutions, including measure to 

20 increase water and energy efficiency, im21 prove water quality, support real-time util22 ity management, and enable actionable 

23 analytics and predictive maintenance to 

24 improve building systems long-term viabil25 ity; 


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1 (iv) reducing the cost of key compo2 nents to accelerate the adoption of smart 

3 building technologies; 

4 (v) data management, including the 

5 capture and analysis of data and the inter6 operability of the energy systems; 

7 (vi) protecting against cybersecurity 

8 threats and addressing security vulnerabili9 ties of building systems or equipment; 

10 (vii) business models, including how 

11 business models may limit the adoption of 

12 smart building technologies and how to 

13 support transactive energy; 

14 (viii) integration and application of 

15 combined heat and power systems and en16 ergy storage for resiliency; 

17 (ix) characterization of buildings and 

18 components; 

19 (x) consumer and utility protections; 

20 (xi) continuous management, includ21 ing the challenges of managing multiple 

22 energy systems and optimizing systems for 

23 disparate stakeholders; and 


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1 (xii) other areas of research and de2 velopment, as determined appropriate by 

3 the Secretary. 

4 (e) REPORT.—Not later than 2 years after the date 

5 of enactment of this Act, and every 2 years thereafter until 

6 a total of 3 reports have been made, the Secretary shall 

7 submit to the Committee on Energy and Natural Re8 sources of the Senate and the Committee on Energy and 

9 Commerce and the Committee on Science, Space, and 

10 Technology of the House of Representatives a report on— 

11 (1) the establishment of the Federal Smart 

12 Building Program and the evaluation of Federal 

13 smart buildings under subsection (b); 

14 (2) the survey and evaluation of private sector 

15 smart buildings under subsection (c); and 

16 (3) any recommendations of the Secretary to 

17 further accelerate the transition to smart buildings. 

Æ 


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