42 U.S.C. § 17063 — Energy information for commercial buildings

submitted 11 years ago by Pub. L. 114-11 to r/title-42-THE-PUBLIC-HEALTH-AND-WELFARE · 547 words · no verdicts yet

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The Energy Secretary must study how building energy-disclosure laws and utility data-sharing programs affect building efficiency, then report the results to Congress. The Secretary must also build a public database of building energy information that avoids duplicating the EPA's Energy Star tool. Progress reports to Congress continue every two years.

(a) Omitted. The supplied text marks this subsection as omitted, with no content provided. (b) Study. (1) By April 30, 2017, the Secretary of Energy, working with the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, must complete a study (A) on the impact of state and local performance-benchmarking and disclosure policies, and related building-efficiency policies, for commercial and multifamily buildings, and of programs where utilities give owners of multitenant buildings combined whole-building energy information; (B) identifying which of those approaches produced the greatest improvements in building energy efficiency; and (C) considering compliance rates and the costs and benefits to building owners, utilities, tenants, and others; utility practices for sharing combined energy data and how public utility commissions and state privacy laws affect them; gaps in existing laws where owners can't get whole-building energy information from tenants or utilities; how to treat buildings with multiple uses, missing baseline data, or high energy-intensity uses like data centers, trading floors, and television studios; implementation practices such as disclosure methods and phased-in compliance; the safety, security, and cyberattack resilience of government benchmarking tools; and other countries' experience with building benchmarking, disclosure laws, and multitenant data aggregation. (2) When the study is done, the Secretary must submit a report on its results to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce and the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources. (c) Creation and maintenance of database. (1) By October 30, 2016, and after giving the public a chance to comment, the Secretary of Energy — coordinating with other relevant agencies — must maintain, and create if necessary, a database storing and sharing public energy-related information on commercial and multifamily buildings, including: (A) data provided under federal, state, local, and other benchmarking and disclosure laws or programs; (B) information on buildings that have disclosed energy ratings and certifications; and (C) energy-related information building owners share voluntarily, kept anonymous unless the owner says otherwise. (2) This database must complement, not duplicate, the Environmental Protection Agency's Energy Star Portfolio Manager tool. (d) Input from stakeholders. The Secretary must seek stakeholder input to make the actions under this section as effective as possible. (e) Report. By April 30, 2017, and every 2 years after that, the Secretary must report to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce and the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources on progress complying with this section.

the actual law source: uscode.house.gov ↗public domain

(a) Omitted

(b) Study

(1) In general

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 1 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) Submission to Congress

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.

(1) In general

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) Complementary programs

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) Input from stakeholders

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

(e) Report

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.

Source credit: (Pub. L. 114–11, title III, § 301, Apr. 30, 2015, 129 Stat. 189.)

history & why it existsrecord from the source credit

2015Enacted · Pub. L. 114-11 · 129 Stat. 189

A history note hasn’t been published yet. The record shows enactment by Pub. L. 114-11 on 2015-04-30.

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