§17064 Smart building acceleration

Summary

Requires the Energy Secretary to set up a Federal Smart Building Program within 1 year after December 27, 2020. The program must put smart building technology into federal buildings and measure its costs and benefits. The Secretary must pick at least 1 building from each of these agencies — Department of the Army, Department of the Navy, Department of the Air Force, Department of Energy, Department of the Interior, Department of Veterans Affairs, and the General Services Administration — so the group is varied by size, type, and location. Selections may include federally owned buildings that are commercially operated. Within 18 months after December 27, 2020, the Secretary must set targets for how many smart buildings will be started and tested by 3 years and by 6 years after December 27, 2020. The program should use existing financing tools like energy savings performance contracts, utility energy service contracts, and annual appropriations. Using Federal Energy Management Program rules, the Secretary must evaluate which advanced technologies are most cost-effective and best for saving energy, improving service for occupants, cutting environmental impacts, and supporting cybersecurity. The Secretary must also survey private smart buildings (like commercial buildings, labs, hospitals, multifamily housing, nonprofits, and colleges), pick at least 1 diverse private building for study, create smart building accelerators with major private property owners under the Better Building Challenge, and may expand awards to recognize agency progress. Defined terms (one line each): Department = Department of Energy; program = the Federal Smart Building Program; Secretary = Secretary of Energy; smart building = a building or group of buildings with automated, flexible energy systems that monitor and integrate energy generation, use, and storage, can connect with utilities or third parties when appropriate, protect occupant health and safety, and follow cybersecurity best practices; smart building accelerator = a short project that tests new policies with clear goals and timelines to speed investment in energy efficiency. The Secretary must send a report to the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources and to the House Committees on Energy and Commerce and on Science, Space, and Technology not later than 2 years after December 27, 2020, and every 2 years after that until 3 reports have been sent; the reports must cover the federal program, the private building survey, and any recommendations to accelerate smart buildings.