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Cleanlink News 1/24/2012

BOMA Joins USGBC To Release Report


The Building Owners and Managers Association (BOMA) International was among 15 partner organizations who joined the U.S. Green Building Council to announce the release of a report that recommends nearly three-dozen executive actions across 23 agency programs where the Obama Administration can drive the economic and environmental benefits of green building without new legislation.

The report, Better Buildings though Executive Action: Leveraging Existing Authorities to Promote Energy Efficiency and Sustainability in Multifamily and Commercial Buildings, builds on a 2010 report that identified nearly 100 legal authority opportunities across 30 existing federal programs worth more than $72 billion to improve energy efficiency in U.S. building stock.

USGBC and the 15 partner organizations worked closely with federal government officials to identify new executive policymaking opportunities to achieve greener buildings. Since the first report of April 2010, there has been significant progress in implementing several proposals, including the Administration’s “Better Buildings Initiative,” which contains many recommendations of the 2010 report, such as improving the Energy Efficiency Commercial Building Tax Deduction, using Department of Energy loan guarantees and utilizing Small Business Administration financing programs to support energy efficiency retrofits at commercial buildings.

Specifically, the report identifies significant new opportunities within programs and legal authorities that were not covered in the 2010 report. Some of the most promising opportunities include:
• Releasing updated guidance on the use of Section 179D, the deduction for energy efficient commercial buildings;
• Overcoming obstacles for building owners to capture aggregated data of tenant energy consumption in multi-tenant structures;
• Facilitating the use of widely-recognized residential energy efficiency labels;
• Integrating building energy efficiency and sustainability into programs managed by the Economic Development Administration;
• Better utilizing the Department of Defense’s procurement and research authorities to promote green buildings;
• Implementing all cost-effective retrofits identified through audits carried out by Federal agencies, using energy savings performance contracts (ESPCs) or other innovative financing.

The report also provides a summary of progress and major developments, including:
• The Administration’s “Better Buildings Initiative,” which contains many elements of the 2010 report, such as improving the Energy Efficiency Commercial Building Tax Deduction, using Department of Energy loan guarantees, and utilizing Small Business Administration financing programs to support energy efficiency retrofits at commercial buildings.
• An interagency effort to establish uniform energy efficiency standards across federal housing programs and to require the use of “green capital needs assessments” to identify and encourage energy efficiency or sustainability improvements in federally-assisted housing.
• Reforms that give energy efficient and sustainable housing an “edge” in a number of competitive solicitations managed by the Department of Agriculture and the Department of Housing and Urban Development.
• A joint initiative by the Department of Energy and the Appraisal Foundation to promote fair appraisal standards and practices with respect to energy efficient and sustainable buildings.
• A proposed commercial building energy performance rating program sponsored by the Department of Energy.

Click here to read this full release.


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