§17084 Separate spaces with high-performance energy efficiency measures

Summary

The Energy Department, through the Assistant Secretary for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, must finish a study within one year after April 30, 2015 about making leased areas in commercial buildings much more energy efficient. A "high-performance energy efficiency measure" means a technology, product, or practice that cuts energy use and utility costs a lot. "Separate spaces" means parts of a commercial building that a tenant or occupant uses under a written lease or agreement. The study must describe which measures to use in design and construction, repeatable design and construction steps, policies and best practices to cut energy for lighting, plug loads, heating, cooling, cooking, laundry and other systems, return-on-investment and payback info (including incentives), modeling and measurement methods that compare spaces with and without the measures, how to integrate with building-wide systems, effects on jobs, and case studies of costs and savings. The Department must ask for public comments within 90 days after April 30, 2015 and post the study on the Department of Energy website.