Chair Castor, Rep. Andy Levin Introduce Clean Energy Buildings Reform Legislation

WASHINGTON (December 15, 2022) – On Thursday, Chair Kathy Castor of the Select Committee on the Climate Crisis and Rep. Andy Levin introduced two major pieces of climate legislation that will work together:

• The Leveraging our Water and Energy Data to Reduce (LOWER) Energy Bills Act of 2022, a bill that would help expand energy savings to families and tenants nationwide by ensuring access to data on the energy and water performance of commercial and multi-family buildings.
• The Creating Low-Cost, Efficient and Net-zero Emissions Resilient (CLEANER) Buildings Act, a bill that would help states and localities reduce heat-trapping pollution and energy and water waste in buildings by establishing an initiative to expand Building Performance Standards (BPS) nationwide.

Widespread support for this legislation underscores the need to reduce pollution from buildings as one of the next steps to help meet President Biden’s 2030 goal of slashing carbon pollution in half by 2030, building on the foundation provided by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the Inflation Reduction Act, and the Energy Act of 2020.  

“Rising energy costs are stretching household budgets across America. And families deserve to know whether they're getting the most bang for their buck once those utility bills come due,” said Chair Castor. “That's why I'm proud to introduce this legislation, which will increase transparency around the water and energy performance of residential and commercial buildings across the country. By increasing access to building performance data, we can increase market demand for cost-saving energy efficiency measures, encourage voluntary improvements in building operations and maintenance, and equip Americans with information that can help lower their energy burdens.”

“To reverse disastrous overheating of our planet, we must take bold, comprehensive action in every part of the economy. That’s why I’m proud to partner with Chair Kathy Castor to introduce legislation to improve building efficiency, reduce greenhouse gas emissions in our buildings and lower utility bills for everyday Americans,” said Congressman Levin. “As a founder of a clean energy business, I was laser-focused on this issue long before stepping into the halls of Congress, and I will do everything I can to bring fundamental change to the built environment. This is a perfect example of how we can protect our one precious Earth while also putting more money back into the pockets of hardworking American families.”

“AIA supports this legislation to establish a common-sense national energy benchmarking program. Building energy benchmarking establishes a consistent measurement tool of ongoing energy consumption across the building sector, giving building managers and designers critical information and promoting greater transparency. AIA is committed to transitioning the building stock to net zero carbon by 2040. This legislation would give architects another helpful tool to meet that goal, while also empowering consumers to make better-informed decisions,” said the American Institute of Architects (AIA).

“We need to tackle the greenhouse gas emissions and escalating costs from the energy used in our buildings. But today in most of the country, tenants, local governments, and even building owners don't actually know each building's energy use. We're not even counting. This bill would ensure building owners measure and disclose their energy use, helping them to identify energy-saving improvements and enabling local and state policymakers to decrease their building sector emissions,” said Steven Nadel, Executive Director of American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy.

“You can't manage what you don't measure. This bill would address that problem by making building energy performance visible to the world and thereby creating a virtuous competition among building owners to achieve the best performance and lower utility bills in order to attract and retain tenants and investors. The bill incorporates best practice from dozens of states and localities that have adopted benchmarking laws,” said Cliff Majersik, Senior Advisor, Institute for Market Transformation.

The LOWER Energy Bills Act would establish a federal benchmarking and transparency initiative for commercial and multi-family properties to advance knowledge about building energy and water performance and related greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. 

Specifically, the bill would direct the EPA Administrator to:

• Require each owner of a commercial or multi-family property to submit data about the property’s energy and water use, as well as related greenhouse gas emissions, annually;
• Make publicly available data to help inform owners, managers, tenants, and the market at large about the energy and water performance of covered properties on an annual basis; and
• Provide technical and financial assistance to state and local governments to help them develop and enforce benchmarking requirements.

The full text of the bill is available here.

The CLEANER Buildings Act would establish a national model building performance standard initiative to assist state and local governments in the development and implementation of Building Performance Standards (BPS), policies that require building owners to meet performance targets by actively improving their buildings over time for GHG emissions and energy and water consumption. This bill codifies and expands resources for several administrative actions taken by the Biden Administration to lower greenhouse gases in the buildings sector.

Specifically, the bill would direct the EPA Administrator to:

• Develop national model building performance standards in coordination with the Secretary of Energy that can be replicated and adopted by state and local governments;
• Provide federal and technical assistance to support state and local governments in the development and implementation of BPS initiatives; and
• Require all Federal Buildings, including the U.S. Capitol and congressional buildings and facilities to comply with the standards.

The full text of the bill is available here.
 

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