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107TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 1129

To establish the High Performance Schools Program in the Department

of Energy and for other purposes.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

MARCH 20, 2001

Mr. UDALL of Colorado (for himself, Mr. BOEHLERT, Mr. GEORGE MILLER

of California, Mr. BONIOR, Mr. ETHERIDGE, and Mr. HONDA) introduced

the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Education and

the Workforce

A BILL

To establish the High Performance Schools Program in the

Department of Energy 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 ‘‘High Performance

5 Schools Act of 2001’’.

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSE.

7 (a) FINDINGS.—The Congress finds the following:
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1 (1) American K–12 schools spend over $6 bil2 lion annually on energy costs, which is more than is

3 spent on books and computers combined.

4 (2) Educators teach and students learn best in

5 an environment that is comfortable, healthy, natu6 rally lit where possible, and in good repair, and stud7 ies have indicated that student achievement is great8 er and attendance higher when those conditions are

9 met.

10 (3) Over half of our Nation’s K–12 schools are

11 more than 40 years old and in need of renovation to

12 reach such standard of efficiency and comfort, and

13 6,000 new schools will be required over the next 10

14 years to accommodate the growing number of stu15 dents.

16 (4) Inadequate ventilation in school buildings,

17 poor lighting and acoustical quality, and uncomfort18 able temperatures can diminish students’ capacity to

19 concentrate and excel.

20 (5) Inefficient use of water, either in consump21 tion or from poorly maintained systems, is prevalent

22 in older schools.

23 (6) Using a whole building approach in the de24 sign of new schools and the renovation of existing

25 schools—considering how materials, systems, and
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1 products connect and overlap and also how a school

2 is integrated on its site and within the surrounding

3 community—will result in high performance school

4 buildings.

5 (7) Adoption of whole building concepts has

6 been shown to result in dramatic improvements in

7 student and teacher performance.

8 (8) Adopting a whole building approach usually

9 results in a lower life cycle cost for the school build10 ing than for a conventionally designed and built

11 building.

12 (9) Systematic use of energy conservation in

13 school construction and renovation projects can save

14 at least one quarter of current energy costs, leaving

15 more money for teachers and educational materials.

16 (10) The use of renewable energy sources such

17 as daylighting, passive solar heating, photovoltaics,

18 wind, geothermal, hydropower, and biomass power in

19 a building already designed to be low-energy can

20 help meet the building’s energy needs without added

21 emissions.

22 (11) Using environmentally preferable products

23 and providing for adequate supplies of fresh air will

24 improve indoor air quality and provide healthful

25 school buildings.
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1 (12) Most school districts do not have the

2 knowledge of cutting-edge design and technologies to

3 implement optimum efficiency into new school con4 struction or into school renovations.

5 (b) PURPOSE.—It is the purpose of this Act to assist

6 school districts in the production, through construction or

7 renovation, of high performance elementary and secondary

8 school buildings that are healthful, productive, energy effi9 cient, and environmentally sound.

10 SEC. 3. PROGRAM ESTABLISHMENT AND ADMINISTRATION.

11 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—There is established in the

12 Department of Energy the High Performance Schools

13 Program (in this Act referred to as the ‘‘Program’’).

14 (b) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Energy may,

15 through the Program, make grants—

16 (1) to be provided to school districts to imple17 ment the purpose of this Act for new and existing

18 school buildings;

19 (2) to State energy offices to administer the

20 program of assistance to school districts pursuant to

21 this Act; and

22 (3) to State energy offices to promote participa23 tion by school districts in the program established by

24 this Act.
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1 (c) GRANTS TO ASSIST SCHOOL DISTRICTS.—Grants

2 under subsection (b)(1) for new school buildings shall be

3 used to achieve energy efficiency performance that reduces

4 energy use at least 30 percent below that of a school con5 structed in compliance with standards prescribed in Chap6 ter 8 of the 2000 International Energy Conservation Code,

7 or a similar State code intended to achieve substantially

8 equivalent results. Grants under subsection (b)(1) for ex9 isting school buildings shall be used to achieve energy effi10 ciency performance that reduces energy use below the

11 school’s baseline consumption, assuming a 3-year, weath12 er-normalized average for calculating such baseline.

13 Grants under subsection (b)(1) shall be made to school

14 districts that have—

15 (1) demonstrated a need for such grants in

16 order to respond appropriately to increasing elemen17 tary and secondary school enrollments or to make

18 major investments in renovation of school facilities;

19 and

20 (2) made a commitment to use the grant funds

21 to develop high performance school buildings in ac22 cordance with the plan developed and approved pur23 suant to subsection (e)(1).

24 (d) OTHER GRANTS.—
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1 (1) GRANTS FOR ADMINISTRATION.—Grants

2 under subsection (b)(2) shall be used to evaluate

3 compliance by school districts with requirements of

4 this Act and in addition may be used for—

5 (A) distributing information and materials

6 to clearly define and promote the development

7 of high performance school buildings for both

8 new and existing facilities;

9 (B) organizing and conducting programs

10 for school board members, school district per11 sonnel, architects, engineers, and others to ad12 vance the concepts of high performance school

13 buildings;

14 (C) obtaining technical services and assist15 ance in planning and designing high perform16 ance school buildings; and

17 (D) collecting and monitoring data and in18 formation pertaining to the high performance

19 school building projects.

20 (2) GRANTS TO PROMOTE PARTICIPATION.—

21 Grants under subsection (b)(3) may be used for pro22 motional and marketing activities, including facili23 tating private and public financing, promoting the

24 use of energy service companies, working with school
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1 administrations, students, and communities, and co2 ordinating public benefit programs.

3 (e) IMPLEMENTATION.—

4 (1) PLANS.—Grants under subsection (b)(1)

5 shall be provided only to school districts that, in con6 sultation with State offices of energy and education,

7 have developed plans that the State energy office de8 termines to be feasible and appropriate in order to

9 achieve the purposes for which such grants are

10 made.

11 (2) SUPPLEMENTING GRANT FUNDS.—The

12 State energy office shall encourage qualifying school

13 districts to supplement their grant funds with funds

14 from other sources in the implementation of their

15 plans.

16 SEC. 4. ALLOCATION OF FUNDS.

17 (a) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in subsection

18 (c), funds appropriated to carry out this Act shall be pro19 vided to State energy offices.

20 (b) PURPOSES.—Except as provided in subsection

21 (c), funds appropriated to carry out this Act shall be allo22 cated as follows:

23 (1) Seventy percent shall be used to make

24 grants under section 3(b)(1).
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1 (2) Fifteen percent shall be used to make

2 grants under section 3(b)(2).

3 (3) Fifteen percent shall be used to make

4 grants under section 3(b)(3).

5 (c) OTHER FUNDS.—The Secretary of Energy may

6 retain not to exceed $300,000 per year from amounts ap7 propriated under section 5 to assist State energy offices

8 in coordinating and implementing the Program. Such

9 funds may be used to develop reference materials to fur10 ther define the principles and criteria to achieve high per11 formance school buildings.

12 SEC. 5. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

13 There are authorized to be appropriated to the Sec14 retary of Energy to carry out this Act $200,000,000 for

15 each of fiscal years 2002 through 2005, and such sums

16 as may be necessary for each of fiscal years 2006 through

17 2011.

18 SEC. 6. REPORT TO CONGRESS.

19 The Secretary of Energy shall conduct a biennial re20 view of State actions implementing this Act, and the Sec21 retary shall report to Congress on the results of such re22 views. In conducting such reviews, the Secretary shall as23 sess the effectiveness of the calculation procedures used

24 by the States in establishing eligibility of schools for fund25 ing under this Act, and may assess other aspects of the
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1 program to determine whether they have been effectively

2 implemented.

3 SEC. 7. DEFINITIONS.

4 For purposes of this Act:

5 (1) ELEMENTARY AND SECONDARY SCHOOL.—

6 The terms ‘‘elementary school’’ and ‘‘secondary

7 school’’ shall have the same meaning given such

8 terms in paragraphs (14) and (26) of section 14101

9 of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of

10 1965 (20 U.S.C. 8801(14), (26)).

11 (2) HIGH PERFORMANCE SCHOOL BUILDING.—

12 The term ‘‘high performance school building’’ means

13 a school building which, in its design, construction,

14 operation, and maintenance, maximizes use of re15 newable energy and energy efficient practices, is

16 cost-effective on a life cycle basis, uses affordable,

17 environmentally preferable, durable materials, en18 hances indoor environmental quality, protects and

19 conserves water, and optimizes site potential.

20 (3) RENEWABLE ENERGY.—The term ‘‘renew21 able energy’’ means energy produced by solar, wind,

22 geothermal, hydroelectric, or biomass power.

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