I 
113TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 2126 
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 
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. 
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 2013’’. 
SEC. 2. ENERGY EFFICIENCY IN FEDERAL AND OTHER 
BUILDINGS. 
(a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 
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(1) ADMINISTRATOR.—The term ‘‘Adminis-
trator’’ means the Administrator of General Serv-
ices. 
(2) 
COST-EFFECTIVE
ENERGY
EFFICIENCY 
MEASURE.—The terms ‘‘cost-effective energy effi-
ciency measure’’ and ‘‘measure’’ mean any building 
product, material, equipment, or service and the in-
stalling, implementing, or operating thereof, that 
provides energy 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 leasing 
provisions 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 
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investments in cost-effective energy 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 provisions de-
veloped under this subsection 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 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-effective energy efficiency measures for the real-
ty services provided by the Administrator to Federal 
agencies (or other clients of the Administrator), in-
cluding periodic training of appropriate Federal em-
ployees and contractors on how to identify and 
evaluate those measures. 
(4) STATE AND LOCAL ASSISTANCE.—The Ad-
ministrator, in consultation with the Secretary of 
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Energy, shall make available model leasing provi-
sions and best practices developed under this sub-
section to State, county, and municipal governments 
to manage owned and leased building space in ac-
cordance with the goal of encouraging investment in 
all cost-effective energy efficiency measures. 
SEC. 3. SEPARATE SPACES WITH HIGH-PERFORMANCE EN-
ERGY EFFICIENCY MEASURES. 
Subtitle B of title IV of the Energy Independence and 
Security Act of 2007 (42 U.S.C. 17081 et seq.) is amend-
ed 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 
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. 
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spaces with high-performance energy effi-
ciency measures; 
‘‘(iii) standards and best practices to 
achieve appropriate energy intensities for 
lighting, plug loads, pipe loads, heating, 
cooling, cooking, laundry, and other sys-
tems to satisfy the needs of the commercial 
building tenant; 
‘‘(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 
measures, including consideration of tax 
and other 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 meas-
ures but that otherwise comply with appli-
cable building code requirements; 
‘‘(vi) measurement and verification 
platforms demonstrating actual energy use 
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of 
high-performance 
energy 
efficiency 
measures installed in separate spaces, and 
whether such measures generate the sav-
ings intended in the initial design and con-
struction of the separate spaces; 
‘‘(vii) best practices that encourage an 
integrated approach to designing and con-
structing separate spaces to perform at op-
timum energy efficiency in conjunction 
with the central systems of a commercial 
building; 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 saving 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 sec-
tion, the Secretary shall publish a notice in the Fed-
eral Register requesting public comments regarding 
effective methods, measures, and practices for the 
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design and construction of separate spaces with 
high-performance energy efficiency measures. 
‘‘(4) PUBLICATION.—The Secretary shall pub-
lish the study on the website of the Department of 
Energy.’’. 
SEC. 4. TENANT STAR PROGRAM. 
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 
Secretary 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 
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promote energy efficiency in separate spaces leased by ten-
ants or otherwise occupied within commercial buildings. 
‘‘(c) EXPANDING SURVEY DATA.—The Secretary of 
Energy, acting through the Administrator of the Energy 
Information Administration, shall— 
‘‘(1) collect, through each Commercial Build-
ings Energy Consumption Survey of the Energy In-
formation 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 law firms, data 
centers, trading floors, restaurants, retail out-
lets, and financial services firms; and 
‘‘(B) other aspects of the property, build-
ing operation, or building occupancy determined 
by the Administrator of the Energy Information 
Administration, in consultation with the Admin-
istrator of the Environmental Protection Agen-
cy, to be relevant in lowering energy consump-
tion; and 
‘‘(2) make data collected under paragraph (1) 
available to the public in aggregated form and pro-
vide such data, and any associated results, to the 
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Administrator of the Environmental Protection 
Agency for use in accordance with subsection (d). 
‘‘(d) RECOGNITION OF OWNERS AND TENANTS.— 
‘‘(1) OCCUPANCY-BASED
RECOGNITION.—Not 
later than 1 year after the date on which the data 
described in subsection (c) is received, the Adminis-
trator of the Environmental Protection Agency shall, 
following an opportunity for public notice and com-
ment— 
‘‘(A) in a manner similar to the Energy 
Star rating system, develop policies and proce-
dures to recognize tenants in commercial build-
ings that voluntarily achieve high levels of en-
ergy efficiency in separate spaces; 
‘‘(B) establish building occupancy cat-
egories eligible for Tenant Star recognition 
based on the data collected under subsection 
(c)(1) and any associated results; 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-
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