Congress passed a bill (S. 535) that will implement new measures to encourage building owners and tenants to use more cost-effective energy efficiency and water efficiency measures. The bill is a more modest version of a larger efficiency bill sponsored by Senators Portman and Shaheen.

For now, the policies largely pertain to owners and renters in commercial buildings. The legislation does outline the need for more information on multifamily energy usage and efficiency policies. The bill instructs the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection Agency to investigate existing benchmarking and associated building efficiency policies for multifamily buildings. It also requires the Department of Energy to maintain a publicly-available database of energy-related information from commercial and multifamily buildings, including:

  • Data provided under Federal, State, local, and other laws or programs regarding building benchmarking and energy information disclosure;

  • Information on buildings that have disclosed energy ratings and certifications; and

  • Energy-related information on buildings provided voluntarily by the owners of the buildings, only in an anonymous form unless the owner provides otherwise.

Three provisions drawn from the larger Senate bill were incorporated into S. 535. The bill has provisions that: (1) promote commercial building energy-use benchmarking and disclosure; (2) establish a voluntary “Tenant Star” program to promote energy efficiency in commercial rental property; and (3) adjust efficiency standards for “grid-connected” water heaters, so that water heaters needed for demand response and thermal storage programs can continue to be sold.

The American Council for Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE), which was active in shaping the bill, predicts the legislation will have modest impacts on energy consumption. However, the bill’s passage is a sign that energy efficiency is an issue that the often divided Congress can agree on.

The NH&RA Preservation Through Energy Efficiency initiative will host a Road Show on May 7 in Baltimore to help multifamily affordable housing owners and developers increase their cash flow by implementing energy efficiency measures. Click here for more information.