§17084 Separate Spaces with High-performance Energy Efficiency Measures

Summary

The Secretary of Energy, through the Assistant Secretary for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, must finish a study no later than 1 year after April 30, 2015 (by April 30, 2016). The study must look at whether designing and building tenant spaces inside commercial buildings with high-performance energy efficiency measures can greatly cut energy use and how to get owners and tenants to use those measures. Two terms to know: a high-performance energy efficiency measure is a technology, product, or practice that cuts energy use and utility costs; separate spaces are areas in a commercial building leased or occupied by a tenant under a written agreement. The study must describe which measures to use, repeatable design and construction processes, policies and best practices to reduce energy for lighting, plug loads, heating, cooling, cooking, laundry, and other systems, analyses of extra costs and payback (including available incentives), models and simulations comparing energy use with and without the measures, ways to measure real energy savings, how to integrate these spaces with a building’s central systems, possible employment effects, and case studies of economic and energy results. The Secretary must publish a Federal Register notice for public comments within 90 days after April 30, 2015 (by July 29, 2015) and post the finished study on the Department of Energy website.