IB 
Union Calendar No. 277 
113TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 2126 
[Report No. 113–371] 
To facilitate better alignment, cooperation, and best practices between com-
mercial real estate landlords and tenants regarding energy efficiency 
in buildings, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MAY 23, 2013 
Mr. MCKINLEY (for himself and Mr. WELCH) introduced the following bill; 
which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce 
FEBRUARY 28, 2014 
Reported with an amendment, committed to the Committee of the Whole 
House on the State of the Union, and ordered to be printed 
[Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic] 
[For text of introduced bill, see copy of bill as introduced on May 23, 2013] 
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A BILL 
To facilitate better alignment, cooperation, and best practices 
between commercial real estate landlords and tenants 
regarding energy efficiency in buildings, and for other 
purposes. 
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Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Better Buildings Act 
of 2014’’. 
SEC. 2. ENERGY EFFICIENCY IN FEDERAL AND OTHER 
BUILDINGS. 
(a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 
(1) 
ADMINISTRATOR.—The 
term 
‘‘Adminis-
trator’’ means the Administrator of General Services. 
(2) COST-EFFECTIVE ENERGY EFFICIENCY MEAS-
URE.—The term ‘‘cost-effective energy efficiency meas-
ure’’ means any building product, material, equip-
ment, or service, and the installing, implementing, or 
operating thereof, that provides energy savings in an 
amount that is not less than the cost of such install-
ing, implementing, or operating. 
(3) COST-EFFECTIVE WATER EFFICIENCY MEAS-
URE.—The term ‘‘cost-effective water efficiency meas-
ure’’ means any building product, material, equip-
ment, or service, and the installing, implementing, or 
operating thereof, that provides water savings in an 
amount that is not less than the cost of such install-
ing, implementing, or operating. 
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(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 Administrator, 
in consultation with the Secretary of Energy and 
after providing the public with an opportunity for 
notice and comment, shall develop model leasing pro-
visions and best practices in accordance 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 meas-
ures to encourage building owners and tenants to 
collaborate to invest in such measures. 
(B) USE OF MODEL PROVISIONS.—The Ad-
ministrator may use the model provisions devel-
oped under this subsection in any standard leas-
ing document that designates a Federal agency 
(or other client of the Administrator) as a land-
lord or tenant. 
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(C) 
PUBLICATION.—The 
Administrator 
shall periodically publish the model leasing pro-
visions developed under this subsection, along 
with explanatory materials, to encourage build-
ing owners and tenants in the private sector to 
use such provisions and materials. 
(3) REALTY SERVICES.—The Administrator shall 
develop policies and practices to implement cost-effec-
tive energy efficiency measures and cost-effective 
water efficiency measures for the realty services pro-
vided by the Administrator to Federal agencies (or 
other clients of the Administrator), including periodic 
training of appropriate Federal employees and con-
tractors on how to identify and evaluate those meas-
ures. 
(4) STATE AND LOCAL ASSISTANCE.—The Ad-
ministrator, in consultation with the Secretary of En-
ergy, shall make available model leasing provisions 
and best practices developed under this subsection to 
State, county, and municipal governments to manage 
owned and leased building space in accordance with 
the goal of encouraging investment in all cost-effective 
energy efficiency measures and cost-effective water ef-
ficiency measures. 
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SEC. 3. SEPARATE SPACES WITH HIGH-PERFORMANCE EN-
ERGY EFFICIENCY MEASURES. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Subtitle B of title IV of the Energy 
Independence and Security Act of 2007 (42 U.S.C. 17081 
et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘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 prac-
tice 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 Ef-
ficiency and Renewable Energy, shall complete a 
study on the feasibility of— 
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‘‘(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 energy ef-
ficiency 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 efficiency 
measures that should be considered as part 
of the initial design and construction of sep-
arate spaces; 
‘‘(ii) processes that owners, tenants, ar-
chitects, and engineers may replicate when 
designing and constructing separate spaces 
with high-performance energy efficiency 
measures; 
‘‘(iii) policies and best practices to 
achieve reductions in energy intensities for 
lighting, plug loads, heating, cooling, cook-
ing, laundry, and other systems to satisfy 
the needs of the commercial building tenant; 
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‘‘(iv) return on investment and pay-
back analyses of the incremental cost and 
projected energy savings of the proposed set 
of high-performance energy efficiency meas-
ures, including consideration of available 
incentives; 
‘‘(v) models and simulation methods 
that predict the quantity of energy used by 
separate spaces with high-performance en-
ergy efficiency measures and that compare 
that predicted quantity to the quantity of 
energy used by separate spaces without 
high-performance energy efficiency measures 
but that otherwise comply with applicable 
building code requirements; 
‘‘(vi) measurement and verification 
platforms demonstrating actual energy use 
of high-performance energy efficiency meas-
ures installed in separate spaces, and 
whether such measures generate the savings 
intended in the initial design and construc-
tion of the separate spaces; 
‘‘(vii) best practices that encourage an 
integrated approach to designing and con-
structing separate spaces to perform at opti-
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mum energy efficiency in conjunction with 
the central systems of a commercial build-
ing; and 
‘‘(viii) any impact on employment re-
sulting from the design and construction of 
separate spaces with high-performance en-
ergy efficiency measures; and 
‘‘(B) case studies reporting economic and 
energy savings returns in the design and con-
struction of separate spaces with high-perform-
ance energy efficiency measures. 
‘‘(3) PUBLIC PARTICIPATION.—Not later than 90 
days after the date of the enactment of this section, 
the Secretary shall publish a notice in the Federal 
Register requesting public comments regarding effec-
tive methods, measures, and practices for the design 
and construction of separate spaces with high-per-
formance energy efficiency measures. 
‘‘(4) PUBLICATION.—The Secretary shall publish 
the study on the website of the Department of En-
ergy.’’. 
(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 relating to 
section 423 the following new item: 
‘‘Sec. 424. Separate spaces with high-performance energy efficiency measures.’’. 
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SEC. 4. TENANT STAR PROGRAM. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Subtitle B of title IV of the Energy 
Independence and Security Act of 2007 (42 U.S.C. 17081 
et seq.) (as amended by section 3) is amended by adding 
at the end the following: 
‘‘SEC. 425. TENANT STAR PROGRAM. 
‘‘(a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 
‘‘(1) HIGH-PERFORMANCE
ENERGY
EFFICIENCY 
MEASURE.—The term ‘high-performance energy effi-
ciency measure’ has the meaning given the term in 
section 424. 
‘‘(2) SEPARATE
SPACES.—The term ‘separate 
spaces’ has the meaning given the term in section 
424. 
‘‘(b) TENANT STAR.—The Administrator of the Envi-
ronmental Protection Agency, in consultation with the Sec-
retary of Energy, shall develop a voluntary program within 
the Energy Star program established by section 324A of the 
Energy Policy and Conservation Act (42 U.S.C. 6294a), 
which may be known as Tenant Star, to promote energy 
efficiency in separate spaces leased by tenants or otherwise 
occupied within commercial buildings. 
‘‘(c) EXPANDING SURVEY DATA.—The Secretary of 
Energy, acting through the Administrator of the Energy In-
formation Administration, shall— 
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‘‘(1) collect, through each Commercial Buildings 
Energy Consumption Survey of the Energy Informa-
tion Administration that is conducted after the date 
of enactment of this section, data on— 
‘‘(A) categories of building occupancy that 
are known to consume significant quantities of 
energy, such as occupancy by data centers, trad-
ing floors, and restaurants; and 
‘‘(B) other aspects of the property, building 
operation, or building occupancy determined by 
the Administrator of the Energy Information 
Administration, in consultation with the Admin-
istrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, 
to be relevant in lowering energy consumption; 
‘‘(2) with respect to the first Commercial Build-
ings Energy Consumption Survey conducted after the 
date of enactment of this section, to the extent full 
compliance with the requirements of paragraph (1) is 
not feasible, conduct activities to develop the capa-
bility to collect such data and begin to collect such 
data; and 
‘‘(3) make data collected under paragraphs (1) 
and (2) available to the public in aggregated form 
and provide such data, and any associated results, to 
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