I 
114TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 1802 
To promote energy efficiency. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
APRIL 15, 2015 
Mr. MCKINLEY (for himself and Mr. WELCH) introduced the following bill; 
which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce 
A BILL 
To promote energy efficiency. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
(a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 
‘‘Energy Efficiency Improvement Act of 2015’’. 
(b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents for 
this Act is as follows: 
Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents. 
TITLE I—BETTER BUILDINGS 
Sec. 101. Short title. 
Sec. 102. Energy efficiency in Federal and other buildings. 
Sec. 103. Separate spaces with high-performance energy efficiency measures. 
Sec. 104. Tenant Star program. 
TITLE II—GRID-ENABLED WATER HEATERS 
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Sec. 201. Grid-enabled water heaters. 
TITLE III—ENERGY INFORMATION FOR COMMERCIAL BUILDINGS 
Sec. 301. Energy information for commercial buildings. 
TITLE I—BETTER BUILDINGS 
SEC. 101. SHORT TITLE. 
This title may be cited as the ‘‘Better Buildings Act 
of 2015’’. 
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 
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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 
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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-
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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.— 
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‘‘(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; 
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