I 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2044 

To accelerate smart building development, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

APRIL 3, 2019 

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 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 (6) INTERNET OF THINGS TECHNOLOGY SOLU5 TION.—The term ‘‘internet of things technology so6 lution’’ means a solution that improves energy effi7 ciency and predictive maintenance through cutting 

8 edge technologies that utilize internet connected 

9 technologies including sensors, intelligent gateways, 

10 and security embedded hardware. 

11 SEC. 4. FEDERAL SMART BUILDING PROGRAM. 

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

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

14 consultation with the Administrator of General Services, 

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

16 Building Program’’— 

17 (1) to implement smart building technology; 

18 and 

19 (2) to demonstrate the costs and benefits of 

20 smart buildings. 

21 (b) SELECTION.— 

22 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall coordi23 nate the selection of not fewer than 1 building from 

24 among each of several key Federal agencies, as de25 scribed in subsection (d), to compose an approVerDate Sep 11 2014 03:49 Apr 13, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2044.IH H2044

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1 priately diverse set of smart buildings based on size, 

2 type, and geographic location. 

3 (2) INCLUSION OF COMMERCIALLY OPERATED

4 BUILDINGS.—In making selections under paragraph 

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

6 owned by the Federal Government but are commer7 cially operated. 

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

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

10 targets for the number of smart buildings to be commis11 sioned and evaluated by key Federal agencies by 3 years 

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

13 (d) FEDERAL AGENCY DESCRIBED.—The key Fed14 eral agencies referred to subsection (b)(1) shall include 

15 buildings operated by— 

16 (1) the Department of the Army; 

17 (2) the Department of the Navy; 

18 (3) the Department of the Air Force; 

19 (4) the Department; 

20 (5) the Department of the Interior; 

21 (6) the Department of Veterans Affairs; and 

22 (7) the General Services Administration. 

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

24 the Secretary shall leverage existing financing mechanisms 


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1 including energy savings performance contracts, utility en2 ergy service contracts, and annual appropriations. 

3 (f) 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— 

10 (A) are most cost-effective; and 

11 (B) show the most promise for— 

12 (i) increasing building energy savings; 

13 (ii) increasing service performance to 

14 building occupants; 

15 (iii) reducing environmental impacts; 

16 and 

17 (iv) establishing cybersecurity; and 

18 (2) any other information the Secretary deter19 mines to be appropriate. 

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

21 made under the Federal Energy Management Program 

22 and the Better Building Challenge to recognize specific 

23 agency achievements in accelerating the adoption of smart 

24 building technologies. 


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

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

3 of privately owned smart buildings throughout the United 

4 States, including commercial buildings, laboratory facili5 ties, hospitals, multifamily residential buildings, and build6 ings owned by nonprofit organizations and institutions of 

7 higher education. 

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

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

10 not fewer than 1 building each from an appropriate range 

11 of building sizes, types, and geographic locations. 

12 (c) EVALUATION.—Using the guidelines of the Fed13 eral Energy Management Program relating to whole-build14 ing evaluation, measurement, and verification, the Sec15 retary shall evaluate the costs and benefits of the buildings 

16 selected under subsection (b), including an identification 

17 of— 

18 (1) which advanced building technologies and 

19 systems— 

20 (A) are most cost-effective; and 

21 (B) show the most promise for— 

22 (i) increasing building energy savings; 

23 (ii) increasing service performance to 

24 building occupants; 

25 (iii) reducing environmental impacts; 

26 and 


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1 (iv) establishing cybersecurity; and 

2 (2) any other information the Secretary deter3 mines to be appropriate. 

4 SEC. 6. LEVERAGING EXISTING PROGRAMS. 

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

6 Better Building Challenge of the Department, the Sec7 retary, in consultation with major private sector property 

8 owners, shall develop smart building accelerators to dem9 onstrate innovative policies and approaches that will accel10 erate the transition to smart buildings in the public, insti11 tutional, and commercial buildings sectors. 

12 (b) RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT.— 

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

14 research and development to address key barriers to 

15 the integration of advanced building technologies 

16 and to accelerate the transition to smart buildings. 

17 (2) INCLUSION.—The research and development 

18 conducted under paragraph (1) shall include re19 search and development on— 

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

21 efficiency through smart system and component 

22 integration; 

23 (B) improving physical components, such 

24 as sensors and controls, to be adaptive, antici25 patory, and networked; 


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1 (C) reducing the cost of key components to 

2 accelerate the adoption of smart building tech3 nologies; 

4 (D) data management, including the cap5 ture and analysis of data and the interoper6 ability of the energy systems; 

7 (E) protecting against cybersecurity 

8 threats and addressing security vulnerabilities 

9 of building systems or equipment; 

10 (F) business models, including how busi11 ness models may limit the adoption of smart 

12 building technologies and how to support 

13 transactive energy; 

14 (G) integration and application of com15 bined heat and power systems and energy stor16 age for resiliency; 

17 (H) characterization of buildings and com18 ponents; 

19 (I) consumer and utility protections; 

20 (J) continuous management, including the 

21 challenges of managing multiple energy systems 

22 and optimizing systems for disparate stake23 holders; 

24 (K) integration of internet of things tech25 nology solutions, including measures to increase 


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1 water and energy efficiency, improve water 

2 quality, support real-time utility management, 

3 and enable actionable analytics and predictive 

4 maintenance to improve building systems long5 term viability; and 

6 (L) other areas of research and develop7 ment, as determined appropriate by the Sec8 retary. 

9 SEC. 7. REPORT. 

10 Not later than 2 years after the date of enactment 

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

12 3 reports have been made, the Secretary shall submit to 

13 the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources of the 

14 Senate and the Committee on Energy and Commerce and 

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

16 House of Representatives a report on— 

17 (1) the establishment of the Federal Smart 

18 Building Program and the evaluation of Federal 

19 smart buildings under section 4; 

20 (2) the survey and evaluation of private sector 

21 smart buildings under section 5; and 

22 (3) any recommendations of the Secretary to 

23 further accelerate the transition to smart buildings. 

Æ 


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