I 

113TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 3820 

To encourage benchmarking and disclosure of energy information for 

commercial buildings. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JANUARY 8, 2014 

Ms. CASTOR of Florida introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on Energy and Commerce 

A BILL 

To encourage benchmarking and disclosure of energy 

information for commercial buildings. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. ENERGY INFORMATION FOR COMMERCIAL 

4 BUILDINGS. 

5 (a) REQUIREMENT OF BENCHMARKING AND DISCLO6 SURE FOR LEASING BUILDINGS WITHOUT ENERGY STAR

7 LABELS.—Section 435(b)(2) of the Energy Independence 

8 and Security Act of 2007 (42 U.S.C. 17091(b)(2)) is 

9 amended— 


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1 (1) by striking ‘‘paragraph (2)’’ and inserting 

2 ‘‘paragraph (1)’’; and 

3 (2) by striking ‘‘signing the contract,’’ and all 

4 that follows through the period at the end and in5 serting the following: 

6 ‘‘signing the contract, the following requirements are 

7 met: 

8 ‘‘(A) The space is renovated for all energy 

9 efficiency and conservation improvements that 

10 would be cost effective over the life of the lease, 

11 including improvements in lighting, windows, 

12 and heating, ventilation, and air conditioning 

13 systems. 

14 ‘‘(B)(i) Subject to clause (ii), the space is 

15 benchmarked under a nationally recognized, on16 line, free benchmarking program, with public 

17 disclosure, unless the space is a space for which 

18 owners cannot access whole building utility con19 sumption data, including spaces— 

20 ‘‘(I) that are located in States with 

21 privacy laws that provide that utilities shall 

22 not provide such aggregated information to 

23 multitenant building owners; and 

24 ‘‘(II) for which tenants do not provide 

25 energy consumption information to the 


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1 commercial building owner in response to a 

2 request from the building owner. 

3 ‘‘(ii) A Federal agency that is a tenant of 

4 the space shall provide to the building owner, or 

5 authorize the owner to obtain from the utility, 

6 the energy consumption information of the 

7 space for the benchmarking and disclosure re8 quired by this subparagraph.’’. 

9 (b) DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY STUDY.— 

10 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 2 years after 

11 the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary 

12 shall complete a study, with opportunity for public 

13 comment— 

14 (A) on the impact of— 

15 (i) State and local performance 

16 benchmarking and disclosure policies, and 

17 any associated building efficiency policies, 

18 for commercial and multifamily buildings; 

19 and 

20 (ii) programs and systems in which 

21 utilities provide aggregated information re22 garding whole building energy consumption 

23 and usage information to owners of multi24 tenant commercial, residential, and mixed25 use buildings; 


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1 (B) that identifies best practice policy ap2 proaches studied under subparagraph (A) that 

3 have resulted in the greatest improvements in 

4 building energy efficiency; and 

5 (C) that considers— 

6 (i) compliance rates and the benefits 

7 and costs of the policies and programs on 

8 building owners, utilities, tenants, and 

9 other parties; 

10 (ii) utility practices, programs, and 

11 systems that provide aggregated energy 

12 consumption information to multitenant 

13 building owners, and the impact of public 

14 utility commissions and State privacy laws 

15 on those practices, programs, and systems; 

16 (iii) exceptions to compliance in exist17 ing laws where building owners are not 

18 able to gather or access whole building en19 ergy information from tenants or utilities; 

20 (iv) the treatment of buildings with— 

21 (I) multiple uses; 

22 (II) uses for which baseline infor23 mation is not available; and 

24 (III) uses that require high levels 

25 of energy intensities, such as data 


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1 centers, trading floors, and televisions 

2 studios; 

3 (v) implementation practices, includ4 ing disclosure methods and phase-in of 

5 compliance; 

6 (vi) the safety and security of 

7 benchmarking tools offered by government 

8 agencies, and the resiliency of those tools 

9 against cyber-attacks; and 

10 (vii) international experiences with re11 gard to building benchmarking and disclo12 sure laws and data aggregation for multi13 tenant buildings. 

14 (2) SUBMISSION TO CONGRESS.—At the conclu15 sion of the study, the Secretary shall submit to Con16 gress a report on the results of the study. 

17 (c) CREATION AND MAINTENANCE OF DATABASES.— 

18 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 18 months 

19 after the date of enactment of this Act and following 

20 opportunity for public notice and comment, the Sec21 retary, in coordination with other relevant agencies 

22 shall, to carry out the purpose described in para23 graph (2)— 

24 (A) assess existing databases; and 

25 (B) as necessary— 


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1 (i) modify and maintain existing data2 bases; or 

3 (ii) create and maintain a new data4 base platform. 

5 (2) PURPOSE.—The maintenance of existing 

6 databases or creation of a new database platform 

7 under paragraph (1) shall be for the purpose of stor8 ing and making available public energy-related infor9 mation on commercial and multifamily buildings, in10 cluding— 

11 (A) data provided under Federal, State, 

12 local, and other laws or programs regarding 

13 building benchmarking and energy information 

14 disclosure; 

15 (B) buildings that have received energy 

16 ratings and certifications; and 

17 (C) energy-related information on buildings 

18 provided voluntarily by the owners of the build19 ings, in an anonymous form, unless the owner 

20 provides otherwise. 

21 (d) COMPETITIVE AWARDS.—Based on the results of 

22 the research for the portion of the study described in sub23 section (b)(1)(A)(ii), and with criteria developed following 

24 public notice and comment, the Secretary may make com25 petitive awards to utilities, utility regulators, and utility 


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1 partners to develop and implement effective and promising 

2 programs to provide aggregated whole building energy 

3 consumption information to multitenant building owners. 

4 (e) INPUT FROM STAKEHOLDERS.—The Secretary 

5 shall seek input from stakeholders to maximize the effec6 tiveness of the actions taken under this section. 

7 (f) REPORT.—Not later than 2 years after the date 

8 of enactment of this Act, and every 2 years thereafter, 

9 the Secretary shall submit to Congress a report on the 

10 progress made in complying with this section. 

11 (g) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is 

12 authorized to be appropriated to carry out subsection (b) 

13 $2,500,000 for each of fiscal years 2014 through 2018, 

14 to remain available until expended. 

Æ 


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