SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Energy Efficiency Im-
provement Act of 2014’’. 
TITLE I—BETTER BUILDINGS 
SEC. 101. SHORT TITLE. 
This title may be cited as the ‘‘Better Buildings Act 
of 2014’’. 
SEC. 102. ENERGY EFFICIENCY IN FEDERAL AND OTHER 
BUILDINGS. 
(a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 
(1) ADMINISTRATOR.—The term ‘‘Adminis-
trator’’ means the Administrator of General Serv-
ices. 
(2) 
COST-EFFECTIVE
ENERGY
EFFICIENCY 
MEASURE.—The term ‘‘cost-effective energy effi-
ciency measure’’ means any building product, mate-
rial, equipment, or service, and the installing, imple-
menting, or operating thereof, that provides energy 
savings in an amount that is not less than the cost 
of such installing, implementing, or operating. 
(3) 
COST-EFFECTIVE
WATER
EFFICIENCY 
MEASURE.—The term ‘‘cost-effective water efficiency 
measure’’ means any building product, material, 
equipment, or service, and the installing, imple-
menting, or operating thereof, that provides water
savings in an amount that is not less than the cost 
of such installing, implementing, or operating. 
(b) MODEL PROVISIONS, POLICIES, AND BEST PRAC-
TICES.— 
(1) IN
GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days 
after the date of enactment of this Act, the Adminis-
trator, in consultation with the Secretary of Energy 
and after providing the public with an opportunity 
for notice and comment, shall develop model com-
mercial leasing provisions and best practices in ac-
cordance with this subsection. 
(2) COMMERCIAL LEASING.— 
(A) IN GENERAL.—The model commercial 
leasing provisions developed under this sub-
section shall, at a minimum, align the interests 
of building owners and tenants with regard to 
investments in cost-effective energy efficiency 
measures and cost-effective water efficiency 
measures to encourage building owners and ten-
ants to collaborate to invest in such measures. 
(B) USE
OF
MODEL
PROVISIONS.—The 
Administrator may use the model commercial 
leasing provisions developed under this sub-
section in any standard leasing document that
designates a Federal agency (or other client of 
the Administrator) as a landlord or tenant. 
(C) 
PUBLICATION.—The 
Administrator 
shall periodically publish the model commercial 
leasing provisions developed under this sub-
section, along with explanatory materials, to en-
courage building owners and tenants in the pri-
vate sector to use such provisions and mate-
rials. 
(3) REALTY
SERVICES.—The Administrator 
shall develop policies and practices to implement 
cost-effective energy efficiency measures and cost-ef-
fective water efficiency measures for the realty serv-
ices provided by the Administrator to Federal agen-
cies (or other clients of the Administrator), including 
periodic training of appropriate Federal employees 
and contractors on how to identify and evaluate 
those measures. 
(4) STATE AND LOCAL ASSISTANCE.—The Ad-
ministrator, in consultation with the Secretary of 
Energy, shall make available model commercial leas-
ing provisions and best practices developed under 
this subsection to State, county, and municipal gov-
ernments for use in managing owned and leased 
building space in accordance with the goal of encour-
aging investment in all cost-effective energy effi-
ciency measures and cost-effective water efficiency 
measures. 
SEC. 103. SEPARATE SPACES WITH HIGH-PERFORMANCE 
ENERGY EFFICIENCY MEASURES. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Subtitle B of title IV of the En-
ergy Independence and Security Act of 2007 (42 U.S.C. 
17081 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the fol-
lowing: 
‘‘SEC. 424. SEPARATE SPACES WITH HIGH-PERFORMANCE 
ENERGY EFFICIENCY MEASURES. 
‘‘(a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 
‘‘(1) HIGH-PERFORMANCE ENERGY EFFICIENCY 
MEASURE.—The term ‘high-performance energy effi-
ciency measure’ means a technology, product, or 
practice that will result in substantial operational 
cost savings by reducing energy consumption and 
utility costs. 
‘‘(2) SEPARATE SPACES.—The term ‘separate 
spaces’ means areas within a commercial building 
that are leased or otherwise occupied by a tenant or 
other occupant for a period of time pursuant to the 
terms of a written agreement. 
‘‘(b) STUDY.—
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 1 year after 
the date of enactment of this section, the Secretary, 
acting through the Assistant Secretary of Energy 
Efficiency and Renewable Energy, shall complete a 
study on the feasibility of— 
‘‘(A) significantly improving energy effi-
ciency in commercial buildings through the de-
sign and construction, by owners and tenants, 
of separate spaces with high-performance en-
ergy efficiency measures; and 
‘‘(B) encouraging owners and tenants to 
implement high-performance energy efficiency 
measures in separate spaces. 
‘‘(2) SCOPE.—The study shall, at a minimum, 
include— 
‘‘(A) descriptions of— 
‘‘(i) high-performance energy effi-
ciency measures that should be considered 
as part of the initial design and construc-
tion of separate spaces; 
‘‘(ii) processes that owners, tenants, 
architects, and engineers may replicate 
when designing and constructing separate 
spaces with high-performance energy effi-
ciency measures;
based on the data collected under subsection (c) 
and any other appropriate data sources; and 
‘‘(C) consider other forms of recognition 
for commercial building tenants or other occu-
pants that lower energy consumption in sepa-
rate spaces. 
‘‘(2) DESIGN- AND CONSTRUCTION-BASED REC-
OGNITION.—After the study required by section 
424(b) is completed, the Administrator of the Envi-
ronmental Protection Agency, in consultation with 
the Secretary and following an opportunity for pub-
lic notice and comment, may develop a voluntary 
program to recognize commercial building owners 
and tenants that use high-performance energy effi-
ciency measures in the design and construction of 
separate spaces.’’. 
(b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of contents 
in section 1(b) of the Energy Independence and Security 
Act of 2007 is amended by inserting after the item relat-
ing to section 424 (as added by section 3(b)) the following 
new item: 
‘‘Sec. 425. Tenant Star program.’’.
TITLE II—GRID-ENABLED WATER 
HEATERS 
SEC. 201. GRID-ENABLED WATER HEATERS. 
Part B of title III of the Energy Policy and Conserva-
tion Act (42 U.S.C. 6291 et seq.) is amended— 
(1) in section 325(e) (42 U.S.C. 6295(e)), by 
adding at the end the following: 
‘‘(6) ADDITIONAL
STANDARDS
FOR
GRID-EN-
ABLED WATER HEATERS.— 
‘‘(A) DEFINITIONS.—In this paragraph: 
‘‘(i) ACTIVATION
LOCK.—The term 
‘activation lock’ means a control mecha-
nism (either a physical device directly on 
the water heater or a control system inte-
grated into the water heater) that is locked 
by default and contains a physical, soft-
ware, or digital communication that must 
be activated with an activation key to en-
able the product to operate at its designed 
specifications and capabilities and without 
which activation the product will provide 
not greater than 50 percent of the rated 
first hour delivery of hot water certified by 
the manufacturer.
‘‘(ii) GRID-ENABLED
WATER
HEAT-
ER.—The term ‘grid-enabled water heater’ 
means an electric resistance water heater 
that— 
‘‘(I) has a rated storage tank vol-
ume of more than 75 gallons; 
‘‘(II) is manufactured on or after 
April 16, 2015; 
‘‘(III) has— 
‘‘(aa) an energy factor of 
not less than 1.061 minus the 
product 
obtained 
by 
multi-
plying— 
‘‘(AA) the rated storage 
volume of the tank, ex-
pressed in gallons; and 
‘‘(BB) 0.00168; or 
‘‘(bb) an equivalent alter-
native standard prescribed by the 
Secretary and developed pursu-
ant to paragraph (5)(E); 
‘‘(IV) is equipped at the point of 
manufacture with an activation lock; 
and
‘‘(V) bears a permanent label ap-
plied by the manufacturer that— 
‘‘(aa) is made of material 
not adversely affected by water; 
‘‘(bb) is attached by means 
of 
non-water-soluble 
adhesive; 
and 
‘‘(cc) advises purchasers and 
end-users of the intended and ap-
propriate use of the product with 
the following notice printed in 
16.5 point Arial Narrow Bold 
font: 
‘‘ ‘IMPORTANT INFORMATION: This water heater is 
intended only for use as part of an electric thermal storage 
or demand response program. It will not provide adequate 
hot water unless enrolled in such a program and activated 
by your utility company or another program operator. 
Confirm the availability of a program in your local area 
before purchasing or installing this product.’. 
‘‘(B) REQUIREMENT.—The manufacturer 
or private labeler shall provide the activation 
key for a grid-enabled water heater only to a 
utility or other company that operates an elec-
tric thermal storage or demand response pro-
gram that uses such a grid-enabled water heat-
er. 
‘‘(C) REPORTS.— 
‘‘(i) 
MANUFACTURERS.—The 
Sec-
retary shall require each manufacturer of 
grid-enabled water heaters to report to the 
Secretary annually the quantity of grid-en-
abled water heaters that the manufacturer 
ships each year. 
‘‘(ii) 
OPERATORS.—The 
Secretary 
shall require utilities and other demand re-
sponse and thermal storage program oper-
ators to report annually the quantity of 
grid-enabled water heaters activated for 
their programs using forms of the Energy 
Information Agency or using such other 
mechanism that the Secretary determines 
appropriate after an opportunity for notice 
and comment. 
‘‘(iii) 
CONFIDENTIALITY
REQUIRE-
MENTS.—The Secretary shall treat ship-
ment data reported by manufacturers as 
confidential business information. 
‘‘(D) PUBLICATION OF INFORMATION.—