42 U.S.C. § 17122 — Research and development

(a) Establishment: The Federal Director^* and the Commercial Director^*, working together and coordinating with the Advisory Committee^*, must survey existing research and studies on high-performance green buildings and coordinate any activities they share an interest in. They must develop and recommend a research plan for high-performance green buildings. That plan must identify what information and research is still needed, including how human health, occupant productivity, safety, security, and accessibility relate to emissions from building materials and products, natural daylighting, ventilation choices and technology, heating and cooling system choices and technology, moisture control and mold, maintenance, cleaning, and pest control activities, acoustics, access to public transportation, and any other issue affecting occupants' health, comfort, productivity, or performance. The plan must also promote the development and spread of measurement tools that can, at minimum, track and assess the life-cycle performance of buildings built as high-performance green buildings (including demonstration projects) and carry out life-cycle assessments, and it must identify and test new and emerging green building technologies. Beyond the research plan, the Directors must help their own offices with budget and life-cycle costing work under section 17092(d); study and identify how green buildings could help with security, natural disasters, and other emergency needs of the Federal Government; and support any other research initiatives their offices decide on.

(b) Indoor air quality: The Federal Director^*, working with the EPA Administrator^* and the Advisory Committee, must build and run a full indoor air quality program covering every Federal facility^*. The goal is to keep Federal workers and building occupants safe, both during new construction and renovation projects and in buildings that already exist.