II 

Calendar No. 272 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 2335 

[Report No. 116–151] 

To accelerate smart building development, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JULY 30, 2019 

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 

OCTOBER 24, 2019 

Reported by Ms. MURKOWSKI, without amendment 

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 of 2019’’. 


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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. DEFINITIONS. 

24 In this Act: 

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

26 means the Department of Energy. 


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

2 the Federal Smart Building Program established 

3 under section 4(a). 

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

5 the Secretary of Energy. 

6 (4) SMART BUILDING.—The term ‘‘smart build7 ing’’ means a building, or collection of buildings, 

8 with an energy system that— 

9 (A) is flexible and automated; 

10 (B) has extensive operational monitoring 

11 and communication connectivity, allowing re12 mote monitoring and analysis of all building 

13 functions; 

14 (C) takes a systems-based approach in in15 tegrating the overall building operations for 

16 control of energy generation, consumption, and 

17 storage; 

18 (D) communicates with utilities and other 

19 third-party commercial entities, if appropriate; 

20 (E) protects the health and safety of occu21 pants and workers; and 

22 (F) is cybersecure. 

23 (5) SMART BUILDING ACCELERATOR.—The 

24 term ‘‘smart building accelerator’’ means an initiaVerDate Sep 11 2014 22:02 Oct 24, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2335.RS S2335

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1 tive that is designed to demonstrate specific innova2 tive policies and approaches— 

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

4 and 

5 (B) that, on successful demonstration, 

6 would accelerate investment in energy effi7 ciency. 

8 SEC. 4. FEDERAL SMART BUILDING PROGRAM. 

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

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

11 consultation with the Administrator of General Services, 

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

13 Building Program’’— 

14 (1) to implement smart building technology; 

15 and 

16 (2) to demonstrate the costs and benefits of 

17 smart buildings. 

18 (b) SELECTION.— 

19 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall coordi20 nate the selection of not fewer than 1 building from 

21 among each of several key Federal agencies, as de22 scribed in subsection (d), to compose an appro23 priately diverse set of smart buildings based on size, 

24 type, and geographic location. 


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1 (2) INCLUSION OF COMMERCIALLY OPERATED

2 BUILDINGS.—In making selections under paragraph 

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

4 owned by the Federal Government but are commer5 cially operated. 

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

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

8 targets for the number of smart buildings to be commis9 sioned and evaluated by key Federal agencies by 3 years 

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

11 (d) FEDERAL AGENCY DESCRIBED.—The key Fed12 eral agencies referred to subsection (b)(1) shall include 

13 buildings operated by— 

14 (1) the Department of the Army; 

15 (2) the Department of the Navy; 

16 (3) the Department of the Air Force; 

17 (4) the Department of Energy; 

18 (5) the Department of the Interior; 

19 (6) the Department of Veterans Affairs; and 

20 (7) the General Services Administration. 

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

22 the Secretary shall leverage existing financing mechanisms 

23 including energy savings performance contracts, utility en24 ergy service contracts, and annual appropriations. 


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1 (f) EVALUATION.—Using the guidelines of the Fed2 eral Energy Management Program relating to whole-build3 ing evaluation, measurement, and verification, the Sec4 retary shall evaluate the costs and benefits of the buildings 

5 selected under subsection (b), including an identification 

6 of— 

7 (1) which advanced building technologies— 

8 (A) are most cost-effective; and 

9 (B) show the most promise for— 

10 (i) increasing building energy savings; 

11 (ii) increasing service performance to 

12 building occupants; 

13 (iii) reducing environmental impacts; 

14 and 

15 (iv) establishing cybersecurity; and 

16 (2) any other information the Secretary deter17 mines to be appropriate. 

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

19 made under the Federal Energy Management Program 

20 and the Better Building Challenge to recognize specific 

21 agency achievements in accelerating the adoption of smart 

22 building technologies. 

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

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

25 of privately owned smart buildings throughout the United 


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1 States, including commercial buildings, laboratory facili2 ties, hospitals, multifamily residential buildings, and build3 ings owned by nonprofit organizations and institutions of 

4 higher education. 

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

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

7 not fewer than 1 building each from an appropriate range 

8 of building sizes, types, and geographic locations. 

9 (c) EVALUATION.—Using the guidelines of the Fed10 eral Energy Management Program relating to whole-build11 ing evaluation, measurement, and verification, the Sec12 retary shall evaluate the costs and benefits of the buildings 

13 selected under subsection (b), including an identification 

14 of— 

15 (1) which advanced building technologies and 

16 systems— 

17 (A) are most cost-effective; and 

18 (B) show the most promise for— 

19 (i) increasing building energy savings; 

20 (ii) increasing service performance to 

21 building occupants; 

22 (iii) reducing environmental impacts; 

23 and 

24 (iv) establishing cybersecurity; and 


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1 (2) any other information the Secretary deter2 mines to be appropriate. 

3 SEC. 6. LEVERAGING EXISTING PROGRAMS. 

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

5 Better Building Challenge of the Department, the Sec6 retary, in consultation with major private sector property 

7 owners, shall develop smart building accelerators to dem8 onstrate innovative policies and approaches that will accel9 erate the transition to smart buildings in the public, insti10 tutional, and commercial buildings sectors. 

11 (b) RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT.— 

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

13 research and development to address key barriers to 

14 the integration of advanced building technologies 

15 and to accelerate the transition to smart buildings. 

16 (2) INCLUSION.—The research and development 

17 conducted under paragraph (1) shall include re18 search and development on— 

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

20 efficiency through smart system and component 

21 integration; 

22 (B) improving physical components, such 

23 as sensors and controls, to be adaptive, antici24 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; and 


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1 (K) other areas of research and develop2 ment, as determined appropriate by the Sec3 retary. 

4 SEC. 7. REPORT. 

5 Not later than 2 years after the date of enactment 

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

7 3 reports have been made, the Secretary shall submit to 

8 the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources of the 

9 Senate and the Committee on Energy and Commerce and 

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

11 House of Representatives a report on— 

12 (1) the establishment of the Federal Smart 

13 Building Program and the evaluation of Federal 

14 smart buildings under section 4; 

15 (2) the survey and evaluation of private sector 

16 smart buildings under section 5; and 

17 (3) any recommendations of the Secretary to 

18 further accelerate the transition to smart buildings. 


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Calendar No. 272 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 2335 

[Report No. 116–151] 

A BILL 

To accelerate smart building development, and for 

other purposes. 

OCTOBER 24, 2019 

Reported without amendment 


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