zli12321/Bills huggingface dataset:
Energy Efficiency Improvement Act of 2015

Better Buildings Act of 2015

 This bill requires the General Services Administration (GSA) to: (1) develop and publish model leasing provisions to encourage building owners and tenants to use greater cost-effective energy efficiency and water efficiency measures in commercial buildings, and (2) develop policies and best practices to implement the measures for the realty services provided by the GSA to federal agencies.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is required under the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 (EISA) to develop a voluntary Tenant Star program within the Energy Star program to recognize tenants of spaces in commercial buildings that voluntarily achieve high levels of energy efficiency. The EPA may develop a voluntary program to recognize commercial building owners and tenants that use high-performance energy efficiency measures in the design and construction of leased spaces.

Energy Efficient Government Technology Act 

The EISA is amended also to require: (1) each federal agency to coordinate with the Office of Management and Budget, the Department of Energy (DOE), and the EPA to develop an implementation strategy for the maintenance, purchase, and use of energy-efficient and energy-saving information technologies; (2) DOE to maintain a data center energy practitioner program that leads to the certification of energy practitioners qualified to evaluate the energy usage and efficiency opportunities in federal data centers; and (3) DOE to establish an open data initiative to make information about federal data center energy usage available and accessible in a manner that encourages data center innovation, optimization, and consolidation.

DOE must maintain, and if necessary create, a database for storing and making available public energy-related information on commercial and multifamily buildings.

Date: 2015-02-11
Topic: Energy (Conservation)
Subject: Energy
(Sec. 1) Amends the Energy Policy and Conservation Act (EPCA) to provide additional energy conservation standards applicable to grid-enabled water heaters for use as part of an electric thermal storage or demand response program (a program that enables customers to reduce or shift their power use during peak demand periods).

Requires annual reports from: (1) manufacturers of such water heaters regarding the quantity of the products shipped each year, and (2) utilities and other demand response and thermal storage program operators regarding the quantity of products activated for their programs.

Requires the Department of Energy (DOE) to publish analyses of data collected from such reports and to establish procedures to prevent product diversion if sales of the products exceed by at least 15% the quantity activated for use in the demand response and thermal storage programs annually.

Maintains the standards and publication procedures established by this Act until the Secretary determines that: (1) such water heaters do not require a separate efficiency requirement, or (2) procedures to prevent product diversion for non-program purposes would not be adequate to prevent such product diversion.

Requires DOE to consider the impact of EPCA electric water heater standards on thermal storage and demand response programs, including on energy savings, electric bills, peak load reduction, electric reliability, integration of renewable resources, and the environment.

Directs DOE to require the water heaters be equipped with communication capability to enable the grid-enabled water heaters to participate in ancillary services programs if the technology is available, practical, and cost-effective.

Makes it unlawful for any person to:

 activate an activation lock for a grid-enabled water heater with knowledge that it is not used as part of such program, distribute an activation key for such a water heater with knowledge that it will be used to activate a heater that is not used as part of the program, enable such water heater to operate at its designed specification and capabilities with knowledge that it is not used as part of the program, or knowingly remove or render illegible the label of a such water heater.

Date: 2015-02-11
Topic: Energy (Conservation)
Subject: Energy
Energy Efficient Government Technology Act 

(Sec. 2) This bill amends the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 to require each federal agency to coordinate with the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), the Department of Energy (DOE), and the Environmental Protection Agency to develop an implementation strategy for the maintenance, purchase, and use by the agency of energy-efficient and energy-saving information technologies. The OMB must establish performance goals for evaluating the efforts of agencies in improving the maintenance, purchase, and use of the technology. The executive branch's Chief Information Officers Council must recommend best practices for attaining the performance goals, including consideration of the use of energy savings performance and utility energy services contracting.

Agencies must include in their annual government efficiency status reports a description of those energy-saving efforts and their results, and the OMB must begin to include in its annual government efficiency report a description of agencies' efforts and results.

(Sec. 3) DOE must make available to the public an update to the Report to Congress on Server and Data Center Energy Efficiency published on August 2, 2007, that includes analyses of the impact of newer information technologies and computing methods and water usage by data centers.

In collaboration with key stakeholders and the OMB, DOE must also: (1) maintain a data center energy practitioner program that leads to the certification of energy practitioners qualified to evaluate the energy usage and efficiency opportunities in federal data centers; and (2) establish an open data initiative to make information about federal data center energy usage available and accessible while encouraging data center innovation, optimization, and consolidation.

In collaboration with key stakeholders, DOE must: (1) participate in efforts to harmonize global specifications and metrics for data center energy and water efficiency, and (2) facilitate the development of a metric for data center energy efficiency.

Date: 2015-03-04
Topic: Energy (Conservation)
Subject: Energy
Energy Savings and Building Efficiency Act of 2015 

This bill amends the Energy Conservation and Production Act to revise provisions regarding the technical assistance that the Department of Energy (DOE) provides to states, Indian tribes, local governments, or model organizations with respect to model energy codes for residential and commercial building codes. DOE must provide technical assistance to implement technically feasible and cost-effective building energy codes.

States and Indian tribes must measure their compliance with applicable building energy codes or with the associated model building energy code. Standards for compliance are established.

DOE may not advocate, promote or discourage the adoption of a particular building energy code, code provision, or energy savings target to a state or Indian tribe. Information provided by DOE is "influential information" subject to Office of Management and Budget guidelines.

DOE must establish energy saving targets for updating model building energy codes. DOE must consider the economic feasibility of achieving the proposed targets and the potential costs and savings for consumers and building owners by conducting a return on investment analysis using a simple payback methodology over a 3-, 5-, and 7-year period. (Simple payback is the time in years that is required for energy savings to exceed the incremental first cost of a new requirement or code.) DOE may not propose or provide assistance for any code or target that has a payback greater than 10 years.

DOE must provide grants to establish building training and assessment centers at institutions of higher education.

Any DOE program that may enable the owner of a building to obtain a rating, score, or label regarding energy usage or performance of a building must be made available on a voluntary basis.

Date: 2015-03-04
Topic: Energy (Conservation)
Subject: Energy
Energy Savings Through Public-Private Partnerships Act of 2015

 This bill amends the National Energy Conservation Policy Act to revise requirements for energy savings performance and utility energy service contracts (performance contracts). (These contracts allow federal agencies to work with private contractors on energy efficiency upgrades to federal facilities.)

Each federal facility energy manager must provide an explanation regarding life cycle cost-effective measures that have not been implemented as part of the web-based compliance certification system. (Life cycle costs are the total cost of owning, operating, and maintaining a building over its useful life.)

The Department of Energy (DOE) must report to the President and Congress on each agency's performance contracts, including their investment value and their energy savings.

The energy conservation measures that may be contained in performance contracts are expanded by including those involving energy consuming devices and required support structures.

Agencies may not limit recognition of operation and maintenance savings associated with energy systems that were modernized or replaced with energy conservation measures and water conservation measures (e.g. lower energy and water bills due to energy efficiency and conservation measures).

Agencies may sell or transfer energy savings and apply the proceeds to fund a performance contract.

The energy savings that may be contained in performance contracts are expanded to include: (1) the use, sale, or transfer of energy incentives, rebates, or credits (including renewable energy credits) from governments or utilities; and (2) any revenue generated from a reduction in energy or water use, more efficient waste recycling, or additional energy generated from more efficient equipment.

Date: 2015-03-25
Topic: Energy (Conservation)
Subject: Energy
Utility Energy Service Contracts Improvement Act of 2015 

 This bill amends the National Energy Conservation Policy Act to make explicit that utility energy service contracts (UESCs) may have a contract period of up to 25 years. UESCs are contracts that allow utilities to provide federal agencies with energy and water efficiency improvements and demand reduction services.

UESC conditions must include requirements for measurement, verification, and performance assurances or guarantees of the savings.

Date: 2015-03-25
Topic: Energy (Conservation)
Subject: Energy
Voluntary Verification Program Act of 2015 

This bill amends the Energy Policy and Conservation Act to require the Department of Energy (DOE) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to rely on voluntary programs for certifying manufacturer compliance with energy conservation performance standards and Energy Star specifications for consumer products and industrial equipment.

 Consumer products are the following: central air conditioners and central air conditioning heat pumps, water heaters, furnaces, direct heating equipment, and pool heaters.

 Industrial equipment is the following: commercial package air conditioning and heating equipment, automatic commercial ice makers, packaged terminal air-conditioners and packaged terminal heat pumps, warm air furnaces and packaged boilers, and storage water heaters, instantaneous water heaters, and unfired hot water storage tanks.

The consumer products exclude those that are designed solely for use in recreational vehicles and other mobile equipment.

DOE and the EPA must initiate a negotiated rulemaking to establish criteria, meeting certain minimum requirements, for achieving recognition by DOE or the EPA as an approved voluntary verification program.

Neither DOE nor the EPA may require manufacturers that participate in a voluntary verification program to provide information that can be obtained through the program. If a voluntary program subjects products to periodic verification testing and provides test results to DOE or the EPA on request, DOE and the EPA may not subject participating manufacturers that are in compliance with the program to additional testing to verify the accuracy of the performance rating of the product or equipment.

Date: 2015-04-14
Topic: Energy (Conservation)
Subject: Energy
Energy Efficiency Improvement Act of 2015

Better Buildings Act of 2015

 This bill requires the General Services Administration (GSA) to: (1) develop and publish model leasing provisions to encourage building owners and tenants to use greater cost-effective energy efficiency and water efficiency measures in commercial buildings, and (2) develop policies and practices to implement the measures for the realty services provided by the GSA to agencies.

This bill amends the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 to require the Department of Energy (DOE) to study the feasibility of improving energy efficiency in commercial buildings through the design and construction of spaces with high-performance energy efficiency measures.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) must 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. The EPA may develop a voluntary program to recognize commercial building owners and tenants that use high-performance energy efficiency measures in the design and construction of leased spaces.

This bill amends the Energy Policy and Conservation Act to provide additional energy conservation standards for grid-enabled water heaters for use as part of an electric thermal storage or demand response program, which is a program that enables customers to reduce or shift their power use during peak demand periods.

A federal agency leasing space in a building without an Energy Star label must include in its lease provisions requirements that the space's energy efficiency be measured against a nationally-recognized benchmark. The agency must also meet certain energy consumption disclosure requirements.

DOE must maintain a database for storing and making available public energy-related information on commercial and multifamily buildings.

Date: 2015-04-15
Topic: Energy (Conservation)
Subject: Energy
This bill amends the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 to require a federal agency leasing space in a building without an Energy Star label to include in its lease provisions requirements that the space's energy efficiency be measured against a nationally-recognized benchmark. The agency must also meet certain energy consumption disclosure requirements.

The Department of Energy (DOE) must study and report on: (1) the impact of state and local performance benchmarking and disclosure policies for commercial and multifamily buildings; (2) the impact of programs and systems in which utilities provide aggregated information regarding whole building energy consumption and usage information to owners of multitenant commercial, residential, and mixed-use buildings; and (3) the best practice policy approaches studied in those impact analyses that have resulted in the greatest improvements in building energy efficiency.

DOE must maintain a database for storing and making available public energy-related information on commercial and multifamily buildings.

Date: 2015-04-16
Topic: Energy (Conservation)
Subject: Energy
Access to Consumer Energy Information Act or the E-Access Act

 Directs the Secretary of Energy (DOE) to encourage and support the adoption of policies that allow electricity consumers access to their own electricity data.

 Amends the Energy Policy and Conservation Act to authorize state energy conservation plans to include programs that: (1) enhance consumer access to, and understanding of, energy usage and price information, including consumers' own residential and commercial electricity information; and (2) allow for development and adoption of innovative products and services to assist consumers in managing energy consumption and expenditures.

Directs the Secretary to issue voluntary guidelines, meeting specified criteria, which establish model standards to implement retail electric energy information access in states.

Authorizes states to submit to the Secretary a description of their data sharing policies regarding consumer access to electric energy information for DOE certification that they meet such voluntary guidelines.

Directs the Secretary, subject to appropriations, to make federal funds available to assist any DOE-certified state to implement its energy conservation plan.

Date: 2015-04-22
Topic: Energy (Conservation)
Subject: Energy
Home Owner Managing Energy Savings Act of 2015 or the HOMES Act 

The Department of Energy (DOE) must establish the Home Energy Savings Retrofit Rebate Program to provide rebates of up to $5,000 to reward homeowners for achieving home energy savings. Rebates may not exceed: (1) $10,000 per individual; or (2) 50% of the qualified home energy efficiency expenditures paid or incurred by the homeowner.

DOE must develop: (1) a network of rebate aggregators or a national rebate aggregator that can facilitate the delivery of rebates to reimburse participating homeowners or contractors, and (2) guidelines for allowing utilities participating as rebate aggregators to count the energy savings from their participation toward state and local level energy saving targets.

 This bill provides for the tax treatment of rebates, including an exclusion of such rebates from the taxable income of the homeowner.

DOE must make grants available for developing quality assurance programs to oversee the delivery of home efficiency retrofit programs, overseeing quality assurance plans, establishing and delivering financing pilots, coordinating with existing residential retrofit programs and infrastructure development to assist deployment of the Home Energy Savings Retrofit Rebate Program, and carrying out that Program.

DOE must establish a Residential Energy Efficiency Pay for Performance pilot program to encourage the use of measured energy savings, and financial payments for those energy savings, in the operation of residential energy efficiency programs.

Date: 2015-04-28
Topic: Energy (Conservation)
Subject: Energy
This bill directs the Department of Energy to establish a pilot program to award grants, through FY2020, to nonprofit organizations for retrofitting their buildings with energy-efficiency improvements.

This bill amends the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 to offset the costs of the grants by decreasing the amount of appropriations authorized for the Zero Net Energy Commercial Buildings Initiative in FY2016.

Date: 2015-04-30
Topic: Energy (Conservation)
Subject: Energy
Energy Savings and Industrial Competitiveness Act of 2015

This bill revises a variety of programs to encourage energy efficiency in buildings, industry, the federal government, and certain appliances.

States and Indian tribes must measure their compliance with certain residential and commercial building energy codes. The Department of Energy (DOE) must: (1) provide technical assistance and incentive funding to implement building energy codes, and (2) establish energy saving targets for updating model building energy codes.

DOE must: (1) provide grants to establish building training and assessment centers at institutions of higher education, and (2) establish a process to recognize schools for implementing energy efficient and renewable energy projects and assisting initiation of similar efforts.

The General Services Administration must develop model leasing provisions and best practices to encourage building owners and tenants to use greater cost-effective energy efficiency measures in commercial buildings.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) must develop a Tenant Star program to recognize tenants of spaces in commercial buildings who voluntarily achieve high levels of energy efficiency.

DOE may 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.

The energy-intensive industries program is renamed the future of industry program.

DOE must: (1) conduct on-site technical assessments at the request of a manufacturer to identify opportunities for maximizing energy efficiency, prevent pollution and minimize waste, improve efficient use of water in manufacturing processes, and conserve natural resources; and (2) carry out an industry-government partnership program to research, develop, and demonstrate new sustainable manufacturing and industrial technologies and processes.

A Supply Star program is established within DOE to identify and promote practices, recognize companies, and recognize products that use highly efficient supply chains that conserve energy, water, and other resources.

DOE must establish rebate programs for expenditures for purchasing and installing certain: (1) electric motors with controls that reduce energy use, and (2) energy efficient transformers.

This bill revises requirements concerning the energy performance of federal buildings, certification under the Energy Star Program, certification of green buildings, energy efficiency in federal real estate transactions and programs, and verification of compliance with energy conservation standards for certain appliances.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development must establish a demonstration program for energy and water conservation improvements at multifamily residential units.

Energy conservation standards are established for grid-enabled water heaters for use as part of an electric thermal storage or demand response program (a program that enables customers to reduce or shift their power use during peak demand periods).

Date: 2015-04-30
Topic: Energy (Conservation)
Subject: Energy
Amends the Energy Policy and Conservation Act to require the Federal Trade Commission to initiate and complete a rulemaking to consider making a special note in a prominent manner on any Energy Guide label for products that include Smart Grid capability to explain that the value of the feature depends on the Smart Grid capability of the utility system and that the use of such capability could reduce the customer's costs.

Date: 2015-05-08
Topic: Energy (Conservation)
Subject: Energy
Job Creation through Energy Efficient Manufacturing Act

This bill requires the Department of Energy (DOE) to establish a Financing Energy Efficient Manufacturing Program to provide grants to establish or expand programs to finance energy efficiency retrofit, onsite clean and renewable energy, smart grid systems, and alternative vehicle fleet projects for industrial businesses.

DOE must establish a process to identify financing opportunities for manufacturing and industrial business with asset portfolios across multiple states.

Grant recipients must give a higher priority to those programs that: (1) leverage private and nonfederal sources of funding, and (2) aim to expand the use of energy efficiency project financing using private sources of funding.

Grant recipients must also collect, share, and report on data resulting from programs carried out under this bill. DOE must incorporate the data into appropriate DOE databases, with provisions for the protection of confidential business data.

Date: 2015-05-13
Topic: Energy (Conservation)
Subject: Energy
New Energy for America Act

This bill amends the Internal Revenue Code to extend: (1) the tax credit for residential energy efficient property expenditures through calendar year 2021; and (2) the energy tax credit for energy property, including solar energy property, qualified fuel cell property, qualified microturbine property, combined heat and power system property, and thermal energy property, the construction of which begins before January 1, 2022.

Date: 2015-05-19
Topic: Energy (Conservation)
Subject: Taxation
Fuel Choice for American Prosperity and Security Act of 2015

 Revises requirements for calculating the average fuel economy for automobile manufacturers.

Prescribes requirements to calculate the average fuel economy for a manufacturer of a fuel choice enabling vehicle to be the average fuel economy determined for an automobile manufacturer, plus 4 miles per gallon.

Defines "fuel choice enabling vehicle" to mean an automobile that:

 operates on natural gas, hydrogen, propane, or biodiesel; is a flexible fuel vehicle; is a plug-in electric drive vehicle; is propelled solely by a fuel cell that produces power without the use of petroleum or petroleum-based fuel; or is propelled solely by something other than an internal combustion engine that operates on something other than petroleum-based fuel.

Date: 2015-05-19
Topic: Energy (Conservation)
Subject: Energy
Power Efficiency and Resiliency Act or the POWER Act

Amends the Internal Revenue Code to: (1) allow a 30% energy tax credit for combined heat and power system property and increase the capacity limitations for such property, (2) extend until December 31, 2018, the placed-in-service deadline for such property, and (3) allow a 30% energy tax credit for waste heat to power property (property comprising a system generating electricity through the recovery of a qualified waste heat resource) placed in service before January 1, 2019.

Includes within the definition of "qualified waste heat resource": (1) exhaust heat or flared gas from any industrial process; (2) waste gas or industrial tail gas that would otherwise be flared, incinerated, or vented; and (3) a pressure drop in any gas for an industrial or commercial process. Excludes from such definition any heat resource from a process the primary purpose of which is the generation of electricity utilizing a fossil fuel or nuclear energy.

Date: 2015-06-04
Topic: Energy (Conservation)
Subject: Taxation
This bill amends the Energy Policy and Conservation Act to eliminate the Department of Energy's authority to: (1) amend energy efficiency standards for ceiling fan light kits, and (2) issue energy efficiency or energy use standards for electricity used by ceiling fans to circulate air in a room.

Date: 2015-07-15
Topic: Energy (Conservation)
Subject: Energy
Department of Defense Energy Security Act of 2015

This bill authorizes military departments to carry out pilot programs to enter into energy savings performance contracts through FY2041, for the purpose of achieving direct energy savings and secondary savings in: (1) certain mobile assets of the Armed Forces that consume energy for the purpose of transportation or maintaining a controlled environment within the vehicle, device, or equipment; and (2) any federally owned equipment used to generate electricity or transport water. Under an energy savings performance contract, a private party agrees to fund energy-efficient upgrades in the federal government and the federal agency agrees to pay the private party from reductions in the agency's energy costs.

The U.S. Army must report on research since October 1, 2010, on energy efficiency of tactical vehicles.

The Department of Defense (DOD) may carry out research to improve military vehicle technology to increase combat vehicle fuel economy or reduce fuel consumption.

DOD shall establish an online, centralized repository for all DOD operational energy-related research and development efforts.

The bill establishes a Department of Defense Alternative Fuel Vehicle Infrastructure Fund for installing and operating alternative fuel dispensing stations for DOD's alternative fueled vehicles and other related infrastructure.

DOD must establish a program to develop and support projects designed to foster secure and reliable sources of energy for military installations, including incorporation of advanced energy metering, resilient energy, energy storage, and redundant power systems.

DOD must report on: (1) the costs and benefits associated with requiring 25% of National Guard and Reserve facilities to have at least a 21-day on-site power storage capacity to assist civil authorities in case of man-made or natural disasters; (2) energy efficiency language in the most recent aerial refueling tanker contract and the Logistics Civil Augmentation Program contract; and (3) DOD's strategy and initiatives to mitigate the impact of expected increased water shortages, instances of wildfire, increased drought, flooding due to sea level rise, and coastal erosion from storm surges to ensure optimal military readiness.

Date: 2015-07-16
Topic: Energy (Conservation)
Subject: Armed forces and national security
Manufactured Housing Energy Efficiency Act

This bill amends the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 to revise requirements governing when the Department of Energy (DOE) must update energy conservation standards for residential manufactured housing, commonly known as mobile homes. Currently, DOE's energy conservation standards for such housing are based on the most recent version of the model International Energy Conservation Code and DOE must update the standards within a year of a revision to the code, unless the code is not cost-effective, or a more stringent standard would be more cost-effective.

The bill requires DOE to make a determination on whether updating its energy conservation standards based on the revised code would improve energy efficiency in manufactured housing before updating those standards.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development must: (1) administer and enforce the energy conservation standards established by this bill, and (2) make public each year aggregate information on enforcement actions with respect to those standards.

Date: 2015-07-21
Topic: Energy (Conservation)
Subject: Energy
Energy Efficient Manufactured Home Act of 2015

This bill authorizes the Department of Housing and Urban Development to carry out a program to provide grants and loans to assist low-income owners of manufactured homes constructed before December 31, 1994, in decommissioning their dated homes and replacing them with Energy Star-qualified manufactured or modular homes.

Grants or loans may be made only to a low-income owner of a dated manufactured home who has used that home as a primary residence on a year-round basis for at least the preceding 24 months. Each household may only receive one grant or loan under the program.

The bill sets forth requirements with respect to: (1) ownership of the land on which the new manufactured or modular home is to be sited, and (2) the decommissioning of a dated home.

Date: 2015-07-29
Topic: Energy (Conservation)
Subject: Housing and community development
This bill amends the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 to require the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to establish a Residence Star program within the Energy Star program to recognize owners of separate residential spaces who voluntarily achieve high levels of energy efficiency. Owners recognized under the program and certain other third parties may advertise: (1) estimates of the monetary and energy savings included in the most recent program audit for their spaces, and (2) the Residence Star brand.

Date: 2015-07-29
Topic: Energy (Conservation)
Subject: Energy
Weatherization Enhancement and Local Energy Efficiency Investment and Accountability Act 

This bill amends the Energy Conservation and Production Act to reauthorize the Weatherization Assistance Program for low-income persons through FY2020.

The Department of Energy (DOE) must make competitive grants to qualified tax-exempt charitable organizations for energy efficiency retrofits of low-income homes. The grants may be used for single-family and multifamily housing.

Contractors carrying out weatherization with funds under the bill must be selected through a competitive bidding process and be accredited as specified by this bill. In order to receive a grant, organizations must use a crew chief who is certified or accredited as required by this bill.

Beginning on October 1, 2016, DOE must ensure that: (1) each retrofit for which weatherization assistance is provided meets minimum efficiency and quality of work standards, (2) at least 10% of the dwelling units are randomly inspected by an accredited third party to ensure compliance with the standards, and (3) the standards meet or exceed the current industry standards for home performance work.

The bill amends the Energy Policy and Conservation Act to reauthorize the program for state energy conservation plans through FY2020.

Date: 2015-07-29
Topic: Energy (Conservation)
Subject: Energy
State and Local Fleet Efficiency Act

 Recognizes state or local government authority to require fleet owners or operators to acquire only new fleet vehicles that:

 utilize natural gas as a fuel; are flexible fuel vehicles that operate on gasoline, E85, and M85; or meet a technology or performance-based characteristic that is commercially available. Provides that nothing in this Act or any other provision of law shall limit the purchase requirement authority of a state or local government applicable to fleets operating primarily within the jurisdiction if the requirements further any policy regarding climate change, the control of air pollution, energy independence, or local economic benefits.

Defines "fleet" as a group of 20 or more light-duty motor vehicles, medium-duty motor vehicles, or heavy-duty motor vehicles carrying 14 or more passengers operating primarily in a metropolitan area with a population of more than 250,000 that are:

 centrally dispatched; or centrally fueled, or capable of being centrally fueled, and owned, operated, leased, or otherwise controlled by a governmental entity or other person meeting specified criteria.

Date: 2015-09-15
Topic: Energy (Conservation)
Subject: Energy
Hospital Energy Conservation Act 

This bill directs the Department of Energy to establish a pilot program to award grants and loan guarantees to no more than six hospitals during FY2016-FY2017 to carry out energy conservation projects for: (1) significantly improving energy efficiency; and (2) encouraging on-site power generation and energy storage, capable of operating independent of the grid, and providing sufficient on-site emergency backup power for essential hospital functions.

Date: 2015-09-16
Topic: Energy (Conservation)
Subject: Energy
This bill amends the Internal Revenue Code to extend through 2018 the energy tax credit for investment in combined heat and power system property.

Date: 2015-11-03
Topic: Energy (Conservation)
Subject: Taxation
This bill amends the Internal Revenue Code to extend through 2017 the energy tax credit for investment in combined heat and power system property.

Date: 2015-11-03
Topic: Energy (Conservation)
Subject: Taxation
(This measure has not been amended since it was introduced. The summary of that version is repeated here.)

EPS Improvement Act of 2016

This bill amends the Energy Policy and Conservation Act to exclude from energy conservation standards for external power supplies any power supply circuit, driver, or device designed to power certain light-emitting diodes or to power ceiling fans using direct current motors. The Department of Energy may prescribe energy conservation standards for that equipment no earlier than one year after the date on which a test procedure has been prescribed by using its authority to improve the energy efficiency of electric motors and pumps and other industrial equipment.

Date: 2016-02-03
Topic: Energy (Conservation)
Subject: Energy
Energy Efficiency Free Market Act of 2016

This bill amends the Energy Policy and Conservation Act to eliminate the Department of Energy's authority to set energy-efficiency and water conservation standards for consumer and commercial appliances. All existing standards are repealed.

Additionally, the bill prohibitsstatesfrom setting their own energy-efficiency and water conservation standards.All existing state standards are nullified.

Date: 2016-02-09
Topic: Energy (Conservation)
Subject: Energy
Advancing Grid Storage Act of 2016

This bill requires the Department of Energy (DOE) to establish certain energy storage programs.

DOE must carry out, within the Office of Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability, a program for the research of energy storage systems (systems or strategies that improve the ability to shift the dispatch of energy in time, across multiple timescales).

DOE must carry out a loan program for: (1) the demonstration and deployment of energy storage systems in a specific project, and (2) programs that finance the demonstration and deployment of multiple energy storage systems through a financial assistance program. Loans may only be used to fund programs relating to the demonstration and deployment of energy storage systems in households, businesses, and communities.

DOE must carry out a technical assistance and grant program for: (1) disseminating information and providing technical assistance directly to nonprofit or for-profit entities so those entities can identify, evaluate, plan, and design energy storage systems; and (2) making grants to those entities so that they may contract to obtain technical assistance to identify, evaluate, plan, and design energy storage systems.

Date: 2016-04-28
Topic: Energy (Conservation)
Subject: Energy
Technologies for Energy Security Act 

This bill amends the Internal Revenue Code to extend and modify the tax credits for residential energy efficient property and investments in energy property.

The bill modifies the tax credit for residential energy efficient property to extend through 2021 the credits for expenditures for fuel cell property, small wind energy property, and geothermal heat pump property. For each extended credit, the bill phases out the current credit rate of 30% of expenditures by reducing it to 26% or 22%, depending on the date that the property is placed in service.

The bill extends the tax credit for investments in energy property for the following property with construction that begins before January 1, 2022:

 fiber-optic solar energy property, fuel cell property, microturbine property, combined heat and power system property, small wind energy property, and thermal energy property. The bill phases out the current credit rate of 30% for investments in fuel cell property, small wind energy property, and fiber-optic solar energy property by reducing it to 26% or 22%, depending on the date that the property is placed in service.

Date: 2016-05-06
Topic: Energy (Conservation)
Subject: Taxation
Energy Storage for Grid Resilience and Modernization Act of 2016 or the Energy Storage Act of 2016

 This bill amends the Internal Revenue Code to: (1) allow, through 2026, a 30% energy tax credit for investment in energy storage property capable of absorbing energy, storing the energy for a period of time, and dispatching the energy for specified purposes; (2) make energy storage property owned by a public power provider, a governmental body, or a cooperative electric company eligible for new clean renewable energy bond financing; and (3) allow, through 2026, a 30% nonbusiness energy property tax credit for residential energy storage equipment expenditures for a taxpayer's principal residence.

Date: 2016-05-26
Topic: Energy (Conservation)
Subject: Taxation
Electricity Storage Innovation Act

(Sec. 2)This bill requires the Department of Energy (DOE)to establish the Electricity Storage Basic Research Initiative. The initiative is designed to expand knowledge related to thecontrol, storage, and conversion ofelectrical energy into chemical energy, and chemical energy into electrical energy.

DOEmust support specific programs within its Office of Science and Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy as part of the initiative.

In addition, DOE must organize activities under the initiative utilizing research teams consisting ofexperts from the national laboratories, universities, and theprivate sector.

Date: 2016-07-06
Topic: Energy (Conservation)
Subject: Energy
Scoring Calculations for Our Residential Energy Act of 2016 or the SCORE Act of 2016

This bill requires the Department of Energy to maintain a Home Energy Score Program that provides for: (1) home energy scores to homeowners and borrowers to enable cost-effective reduction in energy use in homes, and (2) home assessments that collect energy use information for energy scores. The energy scores must include cost-effective recommendations for improving the score and energy efficiency of homes.

Date: 2016-09-28
Topic: Energy (Conservation)
Subject: Energy
Power And Security Systems (PASS) Act

This bill amends the Energy Policy and Conservation Act to revise energy conservation standards for devices operating in standby mode. Current law exempts the external power supplies of security or life safety systems from those standards until July 1, 2017. This bill makes permanent the exemption.

Date: 2016-09-28
Topic: Energy (Conservation)
Subject: Energy
Storage Technology for Operational Readiness and Generating Energy Act or the S.T.O.R.A.G.E. Act

This bill amends the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act of 1978 to add energy storage systems to the list of strategies states should consider when developing energy plans and using its utility ratemaking authority.

States are encouraged to analyze whether energy storage systems benefit their efforts to promote energy conservation and the greater use of domestic energy.

To further encourage the development of programs relating to energy storage, the Department of Energy (DOE) must streamline and coordinate efforts among various existing programs conducting energy storage research at DOE to maximize efficiency of its funds and expand vital research.

Date: 2016-09-28
Topic: Energy (Conservation)
Subject: Energy
This bill amends the Internal Revenue Code to extend through December 31, 2018, the income tax credit for nonbusiness energy property.

Date: 2016-11-17
Topic: Energy (Conservation)
Subject: Taxation
This bill amends the Internal Revenue Code to extend through December 31, 2017, the income tax credit for nonbusiness energy property.

Date: 2016-11-17
Topic: Energy (Conservation)
Subject: Taxation
This bill amends the Internal Revenue Code to extend through December 31, 2017, the tax deduction for energy efficient commercial buildings.

Date: 2016-11-17
Topic: Energy (Conservation)
Subject: Taxation
This bill amends the Internal Revenue Code to extend through December 31, 2018, the tax deduction for energy efficient commercial buildings.

Date: 2016-11-17
Topic: Energy (Conservation)
Subject: Taxation
This bill amends the Internal Revenue Code to extend through December 31, 2017, the income tax credit for energy efficient new homes.

Date: 2016-11-17
Topic: Energy (Conservation)
Subject: Taxation
This bill amends the Internal Revenue Code to extend through December 31, 2018, the income tax credit for energy efficient new homes.

Date: 2016-11-17
Topic: Energy (Conservation)
Subject: Taxation
(This measure has not been amended since it was introduced. The summary has been expanded because action occurred on the measure.)

Power And Security Systems (PASS) Act

(Sec. 2) This bill amends the Energy Policy and Conservation Act to revise energy conservation standards (i.e., no-load mode standards for devices operating in standby) for external power supplies (EPSs) designed to be connected to a security or life safety alarm or surveillance system component, such as smoke alarms that have to remain powered at all times.

Current law exempts EPSs of security or life safety systems from those standards until July 1, 2017. This bill extends that exemption until July 1, 2023. The Department of Energy (DOE) must decide by July 1, 2021, whether standards for those EPSs should be amended further. In the rule, DOE may treat such EPSs as a separate class with different standards or may extend the exemption.

Date: 2016-11-17
Topic: Energy (Conservation)
Subject: Energy
This bill amends the Internal Revenue Code, with respect to the deduction for energy efficient commercial buildings, to: (1) permit 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organizations and Indian tribal governments to allocate the deduction to the person primarily responsible for designing the property in lieu of the owner of the property, (2) allow partnerships and S corporations to receive the full benefit of a deduction allocated at the partner or shareholder level, and (3) exempt property placed in service in a qualified low-income building from the requirement to reduce the basis of the property by the amount of the deduction.

Date: 2016-11-17
Topic: Energy (Conservation)
Subject: Taxation
Building Efficiently Act of 2016 

This bill amends the Internal Revenue Code to expand the new energy efficient home tax credit to allow, in lieu of the existing credit, a credit for 3.3% of the cost of constructing a new energy efficient home that is a qualified energy efficient residential rental property.

An energy efficient residential rental property must be certified as being constructed, reconstructed, or retrofitted under a plan designed to reduce energy and power consumption of the building by at least 40% compared to: (1) the baseline annual energy and power consumption of the building in the case of a retrofit made to an existing building, or (2) a reference building which meets the minimum requirements of the International Energy Conservation Code 2004 in any other case.

The bill also eliminates the basis reduction requirements for low-income housing properties receiving: (1) the new energy efficient home credit, (2) the energy efficient commercial buildings deduction, or (3) the credit for investments in energy property.

Date: 2016-11-30
Topic: Energy (Conservation)
Subject: Taxation
Energy Efficiency Improvement Act of 2015

Better Buildings Act of 2015

 This bill requires the General Services Administration (GSA) to: (1) develop and publish model leasing provisions to encourage building owners and tenants to use greater cost-effective energy efficiency and water efficiency measures in commercial buildings, and (2) develop policies and best practices to implement the measures for the realty services provided by the GSA to federal agencies.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is required under the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 (EISA) to develop a voluntary Tenant Star program within the Energy Star program to recognize tenants of spaces in commercial buildings that voluntarily achieve high levels of energy efficiency. The EPA may develop a voluntary program to recognize commercial building owners and tenants that use high-performance energy efficiency measures in the design and construction of leased spaces.

The Energy Policy and Conservation Act is amended to prescribe additional energy conservation standards for grid-enabled water heaters for use as part of an electric thermal storage or demand response program, which is a program that enables customers to reduce or shift their power use during peak demand periods.

Energy Efficient Government Technology Act 

The EISA is amended also to require: (1) each federal agency to coordinate with the Office of Management and Budget, the Department of Energy (DOE), and the EPA to develop an implementation strategy for the maintenance, purchase, and use of energy-efficient and energy-saving information technologies; (2) DOE to maintain a data center energy practitioner program that leads to the certification of energy practitioners qualified to evaluate the energy usage and efficiency opportunities in federal data centers; and (3) DOE to establish an open data initiative to make information about federal data center energy usage available and accessible in a manner that encourages data center innovation, optimization, and consolidation.

DOE must maintain, and if necessary create, a database for storing and making available public energy-related information on commercial and multifamily buildings.

Date: 2015-01-08
Topic: Energy (Conservation)
Subject: Energy