Title 42, The Public Health and WelfareRelease 119-73not60

§17086 Advanced Integration of Buildings Onto the Electric Grid

Title 42 › Chapter 152— ENERGY INDEPENDENCE AND SECURITY › Subchapter III— ENERGY SAVINGS IN BUILDINGS AND INDUSTRY › Part B— High-Performance Commercial Buildings › § 17086

Last updated Apr 5, 2026|Official source

Summary

The Secretary must set up a research, development, and demonstration program to help parts of homes and commercial buildings act as flexible energy users and sources for the electric grid. The work will focus on making cheap wireless sensors to watch, predict, and control building energy use; building data systems and common ways for devices to talk to the grid; smarter controls that combine sensors and software to save energy; ways to adjust building energy to help grid stability and resilience; better visibility into behind-the-meter equipment; lower-cost key parts; stronger cybersecurity for building systems; and any other related areas the Secretary finds useful. The Secretary must work with utilities, building owners, technology makers, and builders to test and prove these tools and encourage their use, and must pay attention to small- and medium-sized buildings as well as homes and commercial buildings. Within 1 year after December 27, 2020, the Secretary must send a report to the House Committees on Science, Space, and Technology and on Energy and Commerce and to the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources. The report must assess needed technologies, how to add them to new and older buildings, design guidelines, barriers to adoption, feasibility at Department facilities, and include a 10-year roadmap. The Secretary must update the report every 3 years, carry out its recommendations, and coordinate across Department program offices, including the Office of Electricity.

Full Legal Text

Title 42, §17086

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

(a)The Secretary shall establish a program of research, development, and demonstration to enable components of commercial and residential buildings to serve as dynamic energy loads on and resources for the electric grid. The program shall focus on—

(1)developing low-cost, low power, wireless sensors to—

(A)monitor building energy load;

(B)forecast building energy need; and

(C)enable building-level energy control;

(2)developing data management capabilities and standard communication protocols to further interoperability at the building and grid-level;

(3)developing advanced building-level energy management of components through integration of smart technologies, control systems, and data processing, to enable energy efficiency and savings;

(4)optimizing energy consumption at the building level to enable grid stability and resilience;

(5)improving visualization of behind the meter equipment and technologies to provide better insight into the energy needs and energy forecasts of individual buildings;

(6)reducing the cost of key components to accelerate the adoption of smart building technologies;

(7)protecting against cybersecurity threats and addressing security vulnerabilities of building systems or equipment; and

(8)other areas determined appropriate by the Secretary.

(b)In carrying out the program under subsection (a), the Secretary shall—

(1)work with utility partners, building owners, technology vendors, and building developers to test and validate technologies and encourage the commercial application of these technologies by building owners; and

(2)consider the specific challenges of enabling greater interaction between components of—

(A)small- and medium-sized buildings and the electric grid; and

(B)residential and commercial buildings and the electric grid.

(c)Not later than 1 year after December 27, 2020, the Secretary shall submit to the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology and the Committee on Energy and Commerce of the House of Representatives and the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources of the Senate a report on the results of a study that examines the research, development, and demonstration opportunities, challenges, and standards needed to enable components of commercial and residential buildings to serve as dynamic energy loads on and resources for the electric grid.

(1)The report shall include—

(A)an assessment of the technologies needed to enable building components as dynamic loads on and resources for the electric grid, including how such technologies can be—

(i)incorporated into new commercial and residential buildings; and

(ii)retrofitted in older buildings;

(B)guidelines for the design of new buildings and building components to enable modern grid interactivity and improve energy efficiency;

(C)an assessment of barriers to the adoption by building owners of advanced technologies enabling greater integration of building components onto the electric grid; and

(D)an assessment of the feasibility of adopting technologies developed under subsection (a) at Department facilities.

(2)As part of the report, the Secretary shall develop a 10-year roadmap to guide the research, development, and demonstration program to enable components of commercial and residential buildings to serve as dynamic energy loads on and resources for the electric grid.

(3)The Secretary shall update the report required under this section every 3 years for the duration of the program under subsection (a) and shall submit the updated report to the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology and the Committee on Energy and Commerce of the House of Representatives and the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources of the Senate.

(d)In carrying out this section, the Secretary shall—

(1)implement the recommendations from the report in subsection (c); and

(2)coordinate across all relevant program offices at the Department to achieve the goals established in this section, including the Office of Electricity.

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

42 U.S.C. § 17086

Title 42, The Public Health and Welfare

Last Updated

Apr 5, 2026

Release point: 119-73not60