Energy Efficiency Improvement Act of 2015

Floor Speech

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Today is a very good day in Congress and in our country as we send to the President's desk bipartisan legislation that will: one, lower energy bills for families and businesses; two, create good jobs in manufacturing American-made energy efficiency products; and, three, improve our environment by reducing carbon emissions. I am hopeful that the common ground we have found in this bill sets the stage for further cooperation by both parties and by both Chambers in addressing many of the challenges facing our country.

I want to thank Chairman Upton and Chairman Whitfield, and I want to thank Ranking Member Pallone and Ranking Member Rush for working with us to advance this important legislation.

Thank you, especially, Representative McKinley, for partnering with me this term and last on this issue. Your background as an engineer and as a small business owner has provided much-needed expertise to our committee, and I am grateful to you for your partnership and leadership on this issue.

The bill before us today, as Mr. Whitfield said, advanced by Senators Shaheen and Portman in the Senate, also includes some very good ideas from many Members of this House, those from Representatives Cramer, Doyle, Latta, Loebsack, Castor, and Kinzinger.

Thank you all for your contributions to this good, bipartisan bill.

Madam Speaker, I have long believed that energy efficiency is an issue that lends itself to looking past partisan differences to find common ground in our Congress. We may disagree on the causes of climate change and of the best fuel mix to meet America's energy needs, but we can all agree that using less of whatever energy source is more. We can all agree that creating demand for American-made, energy-efficient products will create good jobs, and we can all agree that cutting the energy bills of homeowners, businesses, and the Federal Government is a very good thing.

Vermont has been a leader for a long time in energy efficiency. We were the first in the Nation to establish an ``energy efficiency utility'' to provide assistance to homeowners and businesses that were seeking to lower their energy bills. In 2013 alone, the work of Efficiency Vermont yielded a lifetime customer savings of $206 million for Vermonters. That is real money.

The bill before us today takes an important step towards making America more energy efficient. It includes the Better Buildings Act, also known as Tenant Star, which will drive private sector innovation in the energy efficiency sector. Homes and buildings consume 40 percent of our energy in the United States. That is 40 percent. In commercial buildings, owners report that tenants consume up to 50 percent or more of the total building energy.

One of the challenges facing commercial buildings has been the issue of ``split incentives.'' Building owners and tenants are not always on the same page when it comes to energy performance. Part of the problem is that only one party is paying the energy bill. The other part of the problem is that, while we recognize energy-efficient buildings through our ENERGY STAR program, we have no similar recognition program for tenant spaces. Our bill creates a voluntary Tenant Star recognition program for separate spaces in commercial buildings.

When we combine ENERGY STAR buildings with Tenant Star rentals, we can optimize energy efficiency and shorten payback periods. A good example of this synergy can be found in the ENERGY STAR-certified Vermont Innovation Center, located in Burlington, Vermont. The Vermont Energy Investment Corporation is located in this building as well as my own district office.

The VEIC took aggressive action to optimize the efficiency of its tenant space in the building. It converted the overhead fluorescent lighting to highly efficient LEDs and applied 6 inches of spray foam insulation to the exterior walls. Making these improvements in an ENERGY STAR building optimized an already efficient tenant space. The VEIC expects to save nearly $11,000 a year in energy savings. However, there is no recognition program for these improvements, and we don't know what else VEIC could be doing to increase energy savings.

Under this bill, we will study the best ways to optimize commercial tenant spaces and to recognize such spaces with a new Tenant Star label. By combining energy-efficient tenant build-outs with ENERGY STAR buildings, we will double down on a successful program and optimize energy savings in commercial buildings, all through voluntary action.

In addition to Tenant Star, this legislation includes two other important efficiency provisions.

First, the bill makes much-needed changes to energy efficiency standards for large water heaters used in demand response programs. These water heaters act as residential energy storage devices and allow utilities to curb energy demand during peak hours.

Mr. Whitfield, thank you again for your leadership on this.

Second, the bill will require the disclosure of the amount of energy consumed in federally leased buildings and begin benchmarking their energy use.

In the coming weeks, I look forward to working with my colleagues to pass additional bipartisan energy efficiency bills, including a more expansive version of the McKinley-Welch-Shaheen-Portman legislation before us today. We should also pass legislation to encourage performance contracting in Federal buildings and streamline the Federal green schools efforts.

Madam Speaker, energy efficiency is not a partisan issue. I am encouraged by the steps we are taking today and look forward to working with my colleagues on additional initiatives that cut energy bills, create jobs, and improve the environment. I urge Members to vote for this bill.

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It is a good day when we can come together to do something constructive. This legislation finds that spot, energy efficiency, where we can join in embracing the enormous benefit of creating ways where homeowners and business owners of commercial buildings can figure out how to cut down on their bills. Whatever fuel source they use, if they have got a lower bill, that is a good thing.

To achieve that goal, we have to put Americans to work, a lot of tradespeople who have got real skills and need a place to use them. They are the ones who retrofit these buildings, commercial buildings and homes. There is an incidental benefit: We reduce carbon emissions since we are using less fuel. This is tremendous.

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