Chamber for Innovation & Clean Energy
Apr 24, 2015 12:00 AM
2015-04-24T00:00:00
Dear Chamber Colleagues,
Just this week, a bipartisan bill to advance energy efficiency policy cleared Congress and is headed to the President’s desk. Senators Rob Portman (R-OH) and Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) spearheaded The Energy Efficiency Improvement Act of 2015 (S. 535) which implements several budget-neutral policies from a larger package of policies the two have been promoting for year. It includes:
Just this week, a bipartisan bill to advance energy efficiency policy cleared Congress and is headed to the President’s desk. Senators Rob Portman (R-OH) and Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) spearheaded The Energy Efficiency Improvement Act of 2015 (S. 535) which implements several budget-neutral policies from a larger package of policies the two have been promoting for year. It includes:
1. Better Buildings: Directs the federal government to study best practices for better aligning the interests of commercial building owners and their tenants to reduce energy consumption. The provision directs several federal agencies to study and report on ways that owners and tenants of commercial buildings can to work together on overcoming barriers to implementing energy efficiency measures.
For more information about how local chambers are working with their members and real estate companies on a solution to this issue, you can find a summary and materials from a recent CICE briefing call on “High Performance Leases”.
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2. Tenant Star: Establishes a new voluntary "Tenant Star" certification, modeled on and housed in the successful Energy Star program at Department of Energy, to reward and recognize tenants that design and construct high-performance leased spaces.
2. Tenant Star: Establishes a new voluntary "Tenant Star" certification, modeled on and housed in the successful Energy Star program at Department of Energy, to reward and recognize tenants that design and construct high-performance leased spaces.
3. Water Heater Exemption: Exempts grid-enabled water heaters, or large electric resistance water heaters with communication and control capability, from federal energy efficiency standards. These heaters can make an electricity system more flexible and prepared to use wind and solar energy.
4. Disclosure and Study of Federal Building Energy Use: Requires that federally-leased buildings without Energy Star labels benchmark and disclose their energy usage data whenever possible. It also bill directs the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection Agency to study the efficacy of existing energy benchmarking programs and policies in reducing energy use in commercial buildings.
Text of the legislation can be found here.
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If you have additional questions, please contact Corey Shott at cshott@SFchamber.com
Chambers for Innovation and Clean Energy (CICE) is a national network of local chambers of commerce dedicated to helping local chambers and their member companies successfully navigate and prosper in the clean energy space.