II 

115TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 2447 

To accelerate smart building development, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

FEBRUARY 15, 2018 

Ms. CANTWELL (for herself and Ms. SMITH) introduced the following bill; 

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

A BILL 

To accelerate smart building development, 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’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds that— 

8 (1) the building sector uses more than 40 per9 cent of the energy of the United States; 


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1 (2) emerging building energy monitoring and 

2 control technologies are enabling a transition of the 

3 building sector to ‘‘smart’’ buildings that have dra4 matically reduced energy use and improved quality 

5 of service to occupants; 

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

7 buildings by the Department of Energy would docu8 ment the costs and benefits of the emerging tech9 nologies, promote the adoption of the technologies, 

10 and accelerate the transition to the technologies; 

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

12 Government is the largest building owner in the 

13 United States; and 

14 (5) the Federal Government can also accelerate 

15 the transition to smart building technologies by dem16 onstrating and evaluating emerging smart building 

17 technologies using existing programs and funding to 

18 showcase selected Federal smart buildings. 

19 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 

20 In this Act: 

21 (1) DEPARTMENT.—The term ‘‘Department’’ 

22 means the Department of Energy. 

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

24 the Federal Smart Building Program established 

25 under section 4(a). 


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

2 the Secretary of Energy. 

3 (4) SMART BUILDING.—The term ‘‘smart build4 ing’’ means a building, or collection of buildings, 

5 with an energy system that— 

6 (A) is flexible and automated; 

7 (B) has extensive operational monitoring 

8 and communication connectivity, allowing re9 mote monitoring and analysis of all building 

10 functions; 

11 (C) takes a systems-based approach in in12 tegrating the overall building operations for 

13 control of energy generation, consumption, and 

14 storage; 

15 (D) communicates with utilities and other 

16 third-party commercial entities, if appropriate; 

17 (E) protects the health and safety of occu18 pants and workers; and 

19 (F) is cybersecure. 

20 (5) SMART BUILDING ACCELERATOR.—The 

21 term ‘‘smart building accelerator’’ means an initia22 tive that is designed to demonstrate specific innova23 tive policies and approaches— 

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

25 and 


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1 (B) that, on successful demonstration, 

2 would accelerate investment in energy effi3 ciency. 

4 SEC. 4. FEDERAL SMART BUILDING PROGRAM. 

5 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—Not later than 1 year after 

6 the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall, in 

7 consultation with the Administrator of General Services, 

8 establish a program to be known as the ‘‘Federal Smart 

9 Building Program’’— 

10 (1) to implement smart building technology; 

11 and 

12 (2) to demonstrate the costs and benefits of 

13 smart buildings. 

14 (b) SELECTION.— 

15 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall coordi16 nate the selection of not fewer than 1 building from 

17 among each of several key Federal agencies, as de18 scribed in subsection (d), to compose an appro19 priately diverse set of smart buildings based on size, 

20 type, and geographic location. 

21 (2) INCLUSION OF COMMERCIALLY OPERATED

22 BUILDINGS.—In making selections under paragraph 

23 (1), the Secretary may include buildings that are 

24 owned by the Federal Government but are commer25 cially operated. 


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1 (c) TARGETS.—Not later than 18 months after the 

2 date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall establish 

3 targets for the number of smart buildings to be commis4 sioned and evaluated by key Federal agencies by 3 years 

5 and 6 years after the date of enactment of this Act. 

6 (d) FEDERAL AGENCY DESCRIBED.—The key Fed7 eral agencies referred to subsection (b)(1) shall include 

8 buildings operated by— 

9 (1) the Department of the Army; 

10 (2) the Department of the Navy; 

11 (3) the Department of the Air Force; 

12 (4) the Department; 

13 (5) the Department of the Interior; 

14 (6) the Department of Veterans Affairs; and 

15 (7) the General Services Administration. 

16 (e) REQUIREMENT.—In implementing the program, 

17 the Secretary shall leverage existing financing mechanisms 

18 including energy savings performance contracts, utility en19 ergy service contracts, and annual appropriations. 

20 (f) EVALUATION.—Using the guidelines of the Fed21 eral Energy Management Program relating to whole-build22 ing evaluation, measurement, and verification, the Sec23 retary shall evaluate the costs and benefits of the buildings 

24 selected under subsection (b), including an identification 

25 of— 


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1 (1) which advanced building technologies— 

2 (A) are most cost-effective; and 

3 (B) show the most promise for— 

4 (i) increasing building energy savings; 

5 (ii) increasing service performance to 

6 building occupants; 

7 (iii) reducing environmental impacts; 

8 and 

9 (iv) establishing cybersecurity; and 

10 (2) any other information the Secretary deter11 mines to be appropriate. 

12 (g) AWARDS.—The Secretary may expand awards 

13 made under the Federal Energy Management Program 

14 and the Better Building Challenge to recognize specific 

15 agency achievements in accelerating the adoption of smart 

16 building technologies. 

17 SEC. 5. SURVEY OF PRIVATE SECTOR SMART BUILDINGS. 

18 (a) SURVEY.—The Secretary shall conduct a survey 

19 of privately owned smart buildings throughout the United 

20 States, including commercial buildings, laboratory facili21 ties, hospitals, multifamily residential buildings, and build22 ings owned by nonprofit organizations and institutions of 

23 higher education. 

24 (b) SELECTION.—From among the smart buildings 

25 surveyed under subsection (a), the Secretary shall select 


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1 not fewer than 1 building each from an appropriate range 

2 of building sizes, types, and geographic locations. 

3 (c) EVALUATION.—Using the guidelines of the Fed4 eral Energy Management Program relating to whole-build5 ing evaluation, measurement, and verification, the Sec6 retary shall evaluate the costs and benefits of the buildings 

7 selected under subsection (b), including an identification 

8 of— 

9 (1) which advanced building technologies and 

10 systems— 

11 (A) are most cost-effective; and 

12 (B) show the most promise for— 

13 (i) increasing building energy savings; 

14 (ii) increasing service performance to 

15 building occupants; 

16 (iii) reducing environmental impacts; 

17 and 

18 (iv) establishing cybersecurity; and 

19 (2) any other information the Secretary deter20 mines to be appropriate. 

21 SEC. 6. LEVERAGING EXISTING PROGRAMS. 

22 (a) BETTER BUILDING CHALLENGE.—As part of the 

23 Better Building Challenge of the Department, the Sec24 retary, in consultation with major private sector property 

25 owners, shall develop smart building accelerators to demVerDate Sep 11 2014 04:35 Feb 21, 2018 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2447.IS S2447

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1 onstrate innovative policies and approaches that will accel2 erate the transition to smart buildings in the public, insti3 tutional, and commercial buildings sectors. 

4 (b) RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT.— 

5 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall conduct 

6 research and development to address key barriers to 

7 the integration of advanced building technologies 

8 and to accelerate the transition to smart buildings. 

9 (2) INCLUSION.—The research and development 

10 conducted under paragraph (1) shall include re11 search and development on— 

12 (A) achieving whole-building, systems-level 

13 efficiency through smart system and component 

14 integration; 

15 (B) improving physical components, such 

16 as sensors and controls, to be adaptive, antici17 patory, and networked; 

18 (C) reducing the cost of key components to 

19 accelerate the adoption of smart building tech20 nologies; 

21 (D) data management, including the cap22 ture and analysis of data and the interoper23 ability of the energy systems; 


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1 (E) protecting against cybersecurity 

2 threats and addressing security vulnerabilities 

3 of building systems or equipment; 

4 (F) business models, including how busi5 ness models may limit the adoption of smart 

6 building technologies and how to support 

7 transactive energy; 

8 (G) integration and application of com9 bined heat and power systems and energy stor10 age for resiliency; 

11 (H) characterization of buildings and com12 ponents; 

13 (I) consumer and utility protections; 

14 (J) continuous management, including the 

15 challenges of managing multiple energy systems 

16 and optimizing systems for disparate stake17 holders; and 

18 (K) other areas of research and develop19 ment, as determined appropriate by the Sec20 retary. 

21 SEC. 7. REPORT. 

22 Not later than 2 years after the date of enactment 

23 of this Act, and every 2 years thereafter until a total of 

24 3 reports have been made, the Secretary shall submit to 

25 the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources of the 


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1 Senate and the Committee on Energy and Commerce and 

2 the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology of the 

3 House of Representatives a report on— 

4 (1) the establishment of the Federal Smart 

5 Building Program and the evaluation of Federal 

6 smart buildings under section 4; 

7 (2) the survey and evaluation of private sector 

8 smart buildings under section 5; and 

9 (3) any recommendations of the Secretary to 

10 further accelerate the transition to smart buildings. 

Æ 


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