H.R. 1273

Energy Savings and Building Efficiency Act of 2015

This bill amends the Energy Conservation and Production Act to revise provisions regarding the technical assistance that the Department of Energy (DOE) provides to states, Indian tribes, local governments, or model organizations with respect to model energy codes for residential and commercial building codes. DOE must provide technical assistance to implement technically feasible and cost-effective building energy codes.

States and Indian tribes must measure their compliance with applicable building energy codes or with the associated model building energy code. Standards for compliance are established.

DOE may not advocate, promote or discourage the adoption of a particular building energy code, code provision, or energy savings target to a state or Indian tribe. Information provided by DOE is "influential information" subject to Office of Management and Budget guidelines.

DOE must establish energy saving targets for updating model building energy codes. DOE must consider the economic feasibility of achieving the proposed targets and the potential costs and savings for consumers and building owners by conducting a return on investment analysis using a simple payback methodology over a 3-, 5-, and 7-year period. (Simple payback is the time in years that is required for energy savings to exceed the incremental first cost of a new requirement or code.) DOE may not propose or provide assistance for any code or target that has a payback greater than 10 years.

DOE must provide grants to establish building training and assessment centers at institutions of higher education.

Any DOE program that may enable the owner of a building to obtain a rating, score, or label regarding energy usage or performance of a building must be made available on a voluntary basis.