Bill 113-S-2074 — Energy / Conservation
Subject: Energy

Energy Savings and Industrial Competitiveness Act of 2014 - Title I: Buildings - Subtitle A: Building Energy Codes - Amends the Energy Conservation and Production Act (ECPA) to direct the Secretary of Energy (DOE) to: (1) support the development and updating of national model building energy codes for residential and commercial buildings to enable the achievement of aggregate energy savings targets established by this Act, (2) encourage and support the adoption by states and local governments of building energy codes that meet or exceed the national codes, and (3) support full compliance with state and local codes.

Subtitle B: Worker Training and Capacity Building - Directs the Secretary to provide grants to establish building training and assessment centers at institutions of higher learning to identify and promote opportunities, concepts, and technologies for expanding building energy and environmental performance.

Requires the Secretary to make grants to pay the federal share of career skills training programs to help students obtain a certification to install energy efficient buildings technologies.

Subtitle C: School Buildings - Requires the Secretary to act as the lead federal agency for coordinating and disseminating information on existing federal programs and assistance that may be used to help initiate, develop, and finance energy efficiency, renewable energy, and energy retrofitting projects for schools.

Subtitle D: Better Buildings - Requires the Administrator of General Services (GSA) to develop and publish model leasing provisions and best practices for use in leasing documents that designate a federal agency as a landlord or tenant to encourage building owners and tenants to invest in cost-effective energy efficiency measures.

Amends the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 (EISA) to require the Secretary to study the feasibility of: (1) significantly improving energy efficiency in commercial buildings through the design and construction of separate spaces with high-performance energy efficiency measures, and (2) encouraging owners and tenants to implement such measures in separate spaces.

Requires the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to develop a voluntary Tenant Star program within the Energy Star program to recognize tenants in commercial buildings that voluntarily achieve high levels of energy efficiency in separate spaces. Requires DOE's Administrator of the Energy Information Administration to collect data on categories of building occupancy that consume significant quantities of energy and on other aspects of the property, building operation, or building occupancy determined to be relevant to lowering energy consumption.

Subtitle E: Energy Information for Commercial Buildings - Amends EISA to revise exceptions to the requirement that federal agencies must lease space in buildings that have earned the Energy Star label. Requires a space leased by an agency in a building that has not earned the Energy Star label to be benchmarked under a nationally recognized, online, free benchmarking program, with public disclosure. Exempts from such requirement a space for which owners cannot access whole building utility consumption data.

Requires the Secretary to modify and maintain existing databases or create and maintain a new database platform to store and make publicly available energy-related information on commercial and multifamily buildings.

Authorizes the Secretary to make awards to utilities, utility regulators, and utility partners to develop and implement programs to provide aggregated whole building energy consumption information to multitenant building owners.

Title II: Industrial Efficiency and Competitiveness - Subtitle A: Manufacturing Energy Efficiency - Amends EISA to rename the energy-intensive industries program as the future of industry program.

 Amends ECPA to require the Secretary: (1) as part of the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, to conduct on-site technical assessments at the request of a manufacturer to identify opportunities for maximizing the energy efficiency of industrial processes and cross-cutting systems, preventing pollution and minimizing waste, improving efficient use of water in manufacturing processes, and conserving natural resources; and (2) as part of DOE's industrial efficiency programs, to carry out an industry-government partnership program to research, develop, and demonstrate new sustainable manufacturing and industrial technologies and processes that maximize the energy efficiency of industrial systems, reduce pollution, and conserve natural resources.

Requires the Administrator of the Small Business Administration (SBA) to expedite consideration of applications from eligible small businesses for loans under the Small Business Act to implement recommendations of industrial research and assessment centers.

Subtitle B: Supply Start - Establishes within DOE a Supply Star program to identify and promote practices, recognize companies, and recognize products that use highly efficient supply chains that conserve energy, water, and other resources.

Subtitle C: Electric Motor Rebate Program - Directs the Secretary to establish rebate programs for expenditures for the purchase and installation of: (1) a new constant speed electric motor control that reduces motor energy use by at least 5%, and (2) certain commercial or industrial machinery or equipment that is manufactured and incorporates an advanced motor and drive system.

Subtitle D: Transformer Rebate Program - Directs the Secretary to establish rebate programs for expenditures made by owners of industrial or manufacturing facilities, commercial buildings, and multifamily residential buildings for the purchase and installation of new energy efficient transformers.

Title III: Federal Agency Energy Efficiency - Amends the National Energy Conservation Policy Act, with respect to federal agency energy management, to require each agency to collaborate with the Director of the Office of the Management and Budget (OMB) to develop an implementation strategy for the maintenance, purchase, and use of energy-efficient and energy-saving information technologies.

Requires the OMB Director to establish performance goals for evaluating the efforts of agencies in improving such technology systems.

Requires the Chief Information Officers Council to supplement the goals with recommendations on best practices for attaining them.

Authorizes the GSA Administrator, for any building project for which congressional approval has been received and the design has been substantially completed, but whose construction has not begun, to use appropriated funds to update the building's design to meet energy efficiency and other standards for new federal buildings.

Amends EISA to revise requirements for data center energy efficiency. Designates an information technology industry organization that coordinates the voluntary national information program for such centers. Requires establishment of an open data initiative for federal data center usage data.

Requires the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to establish a demonstration program for energy and water conservation improvements at multifamily residential units.

Title IV: Regulatory Provisions - Subtitle A: Third-Party Certification Under Energy Star Program - Amends the Energy Policy and Conservation Act (EPCA) to direct the EPA Administrator to revise the certification requirements for the labeling of consumer, home, and office electronic products for program partners that have complied with all requirements of the Energy Star program for a period of at least 18 months. Prohibits such requirements from requiring third-party certification for such a product to be listed.

Subtitle B: Federal Green Buildings - Amends EISA to revise requirements for certification of green buildings.

Subtitle C: Water Heaters - Amends EPCA to establish additional energy conservation standards applicable to grid-enabled water heaters (those intended for use as part of an electric thermal storage or demand response program).

Subtitle D: Energy Performance Requirements for Federal Buildings - Amends the National Energy Conservation Policy Act to extend energy performance requirements for federal buildings through FY2017 (from a 30% reduction from 2003 energy consumption level for FY2015 to a 36% reduction for FY2017).

 Amends ECPA to revise the definition of "federal building" to include buildings altered by federal agencies, and to define "major renovation." Requires the Secretary to establish revised federal building energy efficiency performance standards after the approval of revisions of ASHRAE Standard 90.1 or the International Energy Conservation Code (IECC) to meet or exceed such revisions.

Repeals a standard on fossil fuel-generated energy use in federal buildings.

Requires federal building energy standards to be: (1) reviewed every five years, and (2) upgraded to include all new energy efficiency and renewable energy measures that are technologically feasible and economically justified if significant energy savings would result.

Directs the Secretary of HUD to develop and issue guidelines for all federal mortgage agencies to implement enhanced loan eligibility requirements, for use when testing the ability of a loan applicant to repay a covered loan, that account for the expected energy cost savings for a loan applicant at a subject property.

Directs the Secretary to issue guidelines for how covered agencies shall determine: (1) the maximum permitted loan amount based on the value of the property for all covered loans made on properties with an energy efficiency report meeting certain requirements, and (2) the estimated energy savings for properties with such a report.

Amends the Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery, and Enforcement Act of 1989 to require standards for the performance of real estate appraisals in connection with federally related transactions to require at a minimum that state certified and licensed appraisers have timely access to information from the property owner and the lender that may be relevant in developing an opinion of value regarding the energy- and water-saving improvements or features of a property. Applies the requirement of state certified appraisers to transactions involving any real property on which the appraiser makes adjustments using an energy efficiency report.

Directs the Secretary to establish an advisory group on the implementation of the enhanced energy efficiency underwriting criteria established in this Act.

Subtitle E: Third-Party Testing - Amends EPCA to require the Secretary of DOE and the EPA Administrator to rely on voluntary certification programs for air conditioning, furnace, boiler, heat pump, and water heater products.

Title V: Miscellaneous - Amends EISA to reduce appropriations for the Zero Net Energy Commercial Buildings Initiative.