§17063 — Title 42 The Public Health and Welfare | U.S. Code

Summary

Within 2 years after April 30, 2015, the Secretary of Energy, working with the EPA Administrator, must finish a study about two things: how state and local rules that benchmark and disclose energy use affect commercial and multifamily buildings, and how utility programs that give building owners whole-building energy data work. The study must point out the best policy approaches and look at compliance rates, costs and benefits for owners, utilities and tenants, utility practices and privacy laws, cases when owners cannot get whole-building data, special building types (like mixed-use buildings, buildings without baseline data, and very energy‑intensive places such as data centers, trading floors, and television studios), how disclosure is put into practice, cybersecurity of government benchmarking tools, and international examples. The Secretary must send the study results to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce and the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources. Within 18 months after April 30, 2015, and after public notice and comment, the Secretary must create or keep a database of public energy information on commercial and multifamily buildings. The database must include data from federal, state, and local programs, information on buildings with energy ratings or certifications, and owner-provided energy data (kept anonymous unless the owner agrees otherwise). The database must not duplicate the EPA’s ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager tool. The Secretary must get input from stakeholders and then report every 2 years to the same House and Senate committees on progress.

Title 42, §17063

The Public Health and Welfare — Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)

(b)(1)Not later than 2 years after April 30, 2015, the Secretary of Energy, in collaboration with the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, shall complete a study—

(A)on the impact of—

(i)State and local performance benchmarking and disclosure policies, and any associated building efficiency policies, for commercial and multifamily buildings; and

(ii)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;

(B)that identifies best practice policy approaches studied under subparagraph (A) that have resulted in the greatest improvements in building energy efficiency; and

(C)that considers—

(i)compliance rates and the benefits and costs of the policies and programs on building owners, utilities, tenants, and other parties;

(ii)utility practices, programs, and systems that provide aggregated energy consumption information to multitenant building owners, and the impact of public utility commissions and State privacy laws on those practices, programs, and systems;

(iii)exceptions to compliance in existing laws where building owners are not able to gather or access whole building energy information from tenants or utilities;

(iv)the treatment of buildings with—

(I)multiple uses;

(II)uses for which baseline information is not available; and

(III)uses that require high levels of energy intensities, such as data centers, trading floors, and televisions 11 So in original. Probably should be “television”. studios;

(v)implementation practices, including disclosure methods and phase-in of compliance;

(vi)the safety and security of benchmarking tools offered by government agencies, and the resiliency of those tools against cyber attacks; and

(vii)international experiences with regard to building benchmarking and disclosure laws and data aggregation for multitenant buildings.

(2)At the conclusion of the study, the Secretary shall submit to the Committee on Energy and Commerce of the House of Representatives and Committee on Energy and Natural Resources of the Senate a report on the results of the study.

(c)(1)Not later than 18 months after April 30, 2015, and following opportunity for public notice and comment, the Secretary of Energy, in coordination with other relevant agencies, shall maintain, and if necessary create, a database for the purpose of storing and making available public energy-related information on commercial and multifamily buildings, including—

(A)data provided under Federal, State, local, and other laws or programs regarding building benchmarking and energy information disclosure;

(B)information on buildings that have disclosed energy ratings and certifications; and

(C)energy-related information on buildings provided voluntarily by the owners of the buildings, only in an anonymous form unless the owner provides otherwise.

(2)The database maintained pursuant to paragraph (1) shall complement and not duplicate the functions of the Environmental Protection Agency’s Energy Star Portfolio Manager tool.

(d)The Secretary of Energy shall seek input from stakeholders to maximize the effectiveness of the actions taken under this section.

(e)Not later than 2 years after April 30, 2015, and every 2 years thereafter, the Secretary of Energy shall submit to the Committee on Energy and Commerce of the House of Representatives and Committee on Energy and Natural Resources of the Senate a report on the progress made in complying with this section.

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

Codification Section is comprised of section 301 of Pub. L. 114–11. Subsec. (a) of section 301 of Pub. L. 114–11 amended section 17091 of this title. Section was enacted as part of the Energy Efficiency Improvement Act of 2015, and not as part of the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 which comprises this chapter.

§17063 Energy information for commercial buildings

Summary

Title 42, §17063

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

Citations & Metadata