U.S. Sen. John Hoeven (R-ND) and U.S. Rep. Buddy Carter (R-GA) on July 26 reintroduced bipartisan legislation in their respective chambers that would improve energy conservation in federal buildings around the country.
“Promoting energy efficiency helps reduce costs over time while also improving environmental stewardship,” Sen. Hoeven said. “We can achieve this goal in a cost-effective way, but not with one-size-fits-all mandates.”
The All-of-the-Above Federal Building Energy Conservation Act of 2018, S. 3295 / H.R. 6584, would require the energy managers for each federal building to evaluate each government-owned property and within two years after completing each evaluation would implement any energy- or water-saving measure identified in the evaluation that is life-cycle cost-effective. Individual measures of varying paybacks would be bundled together into combined projects, according to text of the bill in the congressional record.
“Our bill creates flexibility for federal building managers, ensuring both new and existing facilities have significantly reduced energy consumption and deliver a good value to taxpayers,” said Sen. Hoeven, who was joined by U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) in reintroducing S. 3295. Both serve on the U.S. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee.
Rep. Carter, who serves on the U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee, was joined by U.S. Rep. Gene Green (D-TX), the original cosponsor, in introducing H.R. 6584.
Among several provisions, the bill would allow federal buildings to continue using efficient fuels that would otherwise be phased out, such as natural gas, while also enhancing the energy efficiency standards for federal buildings, according to a summary provided by Sen. Hoeven’s office.
If enacted, the measure would improve the federal government’s energy efficiency through such avenues as repealing the federal ban on the use of fossil fuels in federal buildings to obtain a more cost-effective energy mix, reducing how often energy audits are performed on well-managed buildings to increase the focus on buildings in need of improvements, and bolstering the recommissioning of existing facilities. It would also require energy managers to implement all cost-effective energy efficiency measures identified in energy audits unless they can justify otherwise, according to the summary.
The U.S. Department of Energy would define major renovation through an open comment process, the lawmakers noted.
The Senate version of the bill has been referred for consideration to the U.S. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, while both the House Energy and Commerce Committee and the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee received the House measure for review.