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By: Puente H.B. No. 3084
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to increasing the sustainability of the State's building
infrastructure.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Texas Government Code, TITLE 4, is amended as
follows:
Sec. 447.004. Design Standards. (a) The state energy
conservation office shall adopt and publish energy and water
conservation design standards, under Chapter 2001, that all new
state buildings and major renovation projects, including buildings
and major renovation projects of state-supported institutions of
higher education, are required to meet. The office shall define
what constitutes a major renovation project under this section and
shall review and update the standards biennially.
(b) The standards must include performance and procedural
standards for the maximum energy and water conservation allowed by
the latest and most cost-effective technology that is consistent
with the requirements of public health, safety, and economic
resources.
(c) The standards must be adopted in terms of energy and
water consumption levels and must take into consideration the
various classes of building uses and must allow for design
flexibility. Procedural standards must be directed toward specific
design and building practices that produce good thermal resistance
and low infiltration and toward requiring practices in the design
of mechanical and electrical systems that maximize energy and water
efficiency. The procedural standards must concern, as applicable:
(1) insulation;
(2) lighting;
(3) ventilation;
(4) climate control;
(5) water-conserving fixtures, appliances, and
equipment or the substitution of non-water-using fixtures,
appliances, and equipment;
(6) water-conserving landscape irrigation equipment;
(7) landscaping measures that reduce watering demands
and capture and hold applied water and rainfall, including:
(A) landscape contouring, including the use of
berms, swales, and terraces; and
(B) the use of soil amendments that increase the
water-holding capacity of the soil, including compost;
(8) rainwater harvesting equipment and equipment to
make use of water collected as part of a storm-water system
installed for water quality control;
(9) equipment for recycling or reuse of water
originating on the premises or from other sources, including
treated municipal effluent;
(10) equipment needed to capture water from
nonconventional, alternate sources, including air conditioning
condensate or graywater, for nonpotable uses;
(11) metering equipment needed to segregate water use
in order to identify water conservation opportunities or verify
water savings;
(12) special energy and water requirements of
health-related facilities of higher education and state agencies;
and
(13) any other item that the center considers
appropriate that is adopted under Chapter 2001.
(d) In order to demonstrate compliance with the requirement
to adopt and update the conservation design standards, each agency
and institution of higher education shall submit a copy of its
design and construction manuals to the office on request.
(e) Prior to construction, agencies and institutions of
higher education shall have the design architect and engineer on
the project certify, through presentation of a detailed economic
feasibility study and written evaluation to the appropriate
authority having jurisdiction (AHJD), [agency or institution,]
with a copy to the state energy conservation office, that all new
building construction and major building renovation projects
comply with the energy and water conservation design standards
required under this section[.], and with the alternative energy
evaluation requirements found under Texas Government Code, Title
10, Sec. 2166.401 and Sec. 2166.403.
SECTION 2. Section 2166, Title 10, Texas Government Code is
amended as follows:
Sec. 2166.401. Evaluation of Energy, Architectural and
Engineering Design Alternatives. (a) For each project for which
a project analysis is prepared under Subchapter D and for which the
construction, alteration, or repair involves installing or
replacing all or part of an energy system, energy source, or
energy-consuming equipment, or for which either architectural or
engineering design choices will impact the energy consumption of
the building, the commission or the private design professional
retained by the commission shall prepare a written evaluation of
energy and energy impacting architectural or engineering design
alternatives for the project.
(b) The evaluation must include information about the
economic and environmental impact of various energy and
architectural or engineering design alternatives, including an
evaluation of economic and environmental costs both initially and
over the life of the system, source, [or] equipment, or
architectural or engineering design alternative.
(c) The evaluation must identify the best energy and
architectural and engineering design alternative for the project
considering both economic and environmental costs and benefits.
SECTION 3. Section 2166, Title 10, Texas Government Code is
amended as follows:
Sec. 2166.403. Alternative Energy and Architectural and
Engineering Design. (a) This section applies to the construction
of a new state building, including a building construction project
otherwise exempt from this chapter under Section 2166.003.
(b) During the planning phase of the proposed construction,
the commission, or the governing body of the appropriate agency or
institution that is undertaking a project otherwise exempt from
this chapter under Section 2166.003, shall verify in an open
meeting, through presentation of a detailed written evaluation the
economic feasibility of incorporating into the building's design
and proposed energy system alternative energy devices and
architectural or engineering design measures [for] effecting space
heating and cooling, water heating, electrical loads, and interior
lighting. The detailed written evaluation shall be made available
to the public at least 30 days in advance of the open meeting. The
commission or governing body shall determine economic feasibility
for each function by comparing the estimated cost of providing
energy for all or part of the function using conventional
architectural or engineering design practices and energy systems
with the estimated cost of providing energy for the function using
alternative architectural or engineering design practices and
energy devices during the economic life of the building.
(c) The Texas Comptroller's State Energy Conservation
Office (SECO), or its successor, shall approve the methodology and
any electronic software used by the commission or governing body,
or any entity contracted by the commission or governing body, to
make such a comparison and to determine economic feasibility under
subsection (d)
[(c)] (d) If the use of alternative energy devices and/or
architectural design elements for a particular function is
determined to be economically feasible under subsection (b), the
commission or governing body shall include the use of alternative
energy devices and/or architectural design elements for all or part
of that function in the construction plans.
([d]) (e) In this section:
(1) "Alternative energy" means a renewable energy
resource. The term includes solar energy, geothermal energy,
biomass energy, and wind energy.
(2) "Alternative energy collector" means an assembly,
structure, or design, including passive elements, used to absorb,
concentrate, convert, reflect, or otherwise capture or redirect
alternative energy for later use as thermal, mechanical, or
electrical energy.
(3) "Alternative energy device" means an alternative
energy collector or alternative energy storage mechanism that
collects, stores, or distributes alternative energy.
(4) "Alternative energy storage mechanism" means
equipment, components, or elements designed and used to store for
later use alternative energy captured by an alternative energy
collector in the form in which the energy will eventually be used or
in an intermediate form. The term includes thermal,
electrochemical, chemical, electrical, and mechanical storage
mechanisms.
(5) "Biomass energy" means energy that is created in
living plants through photosynthesis.
(6) "Solar energy" means energy from the sun that may
be collected and converted into useful thermal, mechanical, or
electrical energy.
SECTION 4. Section 2166, Title 10, Texas Government Code is
amended as follows:
2166.153. Contents of Project Analysis. (a) A project
analysis consists of:
(1) a complete description of the project and a
justification of the project prepared by the using agency;
(2) a detailed estimate of the amount of space needed
to meet the needs of the using agency and to allow for realistic
growth;
(3) a description of the proposed project prepared by
a design professional that:
(A) includes schematic plans and outline
specifications describing the type of construction and probable
materials to be used; and
(B) is sufficient to establish the general scope
and quality of construction;
(4) an estimate of the probable cost of construction;
(5) a description of the proposed site of the project
and an estimate of the cost of site preparation;
(6) an overall estimate of the cost of the project
including necessary funding for life-cycle costing, whole building
integrated design, commissioning, and post occupancy building
performance verification;
(7) information prepared under Section 2166.451 about
historic structures considered as alternatives to new
construction;
(8) an evaluation of energy alternatives as required
by Section 2166.401, and Section 2166.403; and
(9) other information required by the commission.
(b) A project analysis may include two or more alternative
proposals for meeting the using agency's space needs by:
(1) new construction;
(2) the acquisition and rehabilitation of an existing
or historic structure; or
(3) a combination of new and existing structures.
(c) If any part of a project involves the construction or
rehabilitation of a building that is to be used primarily as a
parking garage or for office space for state government, the
project analysis also must include:
(1) a description of the amount and location of space
in the building that can be made available for lease to private
tenants under Subchapter E, Chapter 2165; or
(2) a statement of the reason that lease of space in
the building to private tenants is not feasible.
(d) All estimates involved in the preparation of a project
analysis shall be carefully and fully documented and incorporated
into the project analysis.
SECTION 5. This Act takes effect immediately if it receives
a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as
provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution. If this
Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this
Act takes effect September 1, 2003.