[Congressional Bills 114th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 6212 Introduced in House (IH)]

<DOC>






114th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 6212

   To authorize the Department of Energy to assess and score new and 
existing homes for the cost-effective reduction in the energy use, and 
                          for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           September 28, 2016

 Mr. Cartwright (for himself, Mr. Quigley, Mr. Tonko, Ms. Matsui, and 
Mr. Connolly) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                    Committee on Energy and Commerce

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
   To authorize the Department of Energy to assess and score new and 
existing homes for the cost-effective reduction in the energy use, and 
                          for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Scoring Calculations for Our 
Residential Energy Act of 2016'' or the ``SCORE Act of 2016''.

SEC. 2. DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY HOME ENERGY SCORE PROGRAM.

    (a) In General.--The Secretary of Energy shall maintain a Home 
Energy Score Program to provide to homeowners and borrowers, on a 
voluntary basis at the request of the homeowner or borrower, a score 
document for the purpose of enabling the cost-effective reduction in 
the energy use of those homes. Score documents shall be available under 
the Program for both new and existing homes. A score document shall 
grade the home on its energy consumption for heating, cooling, water 
heating, and other variables the Secretary considers appropriate to 
enable achieving cost-effective reduction in the energy use of the 
home, so that it may be easily compared to other homes. The Program may 
include the alternate use of any comparable residential rating system, 
as approved by the Secretary of Energy through published guidelines.
    (b) Assessments.--The Program shall provide for home assessments, 
conducted pursuant to a request by a homeowner or borrower in 
accordance with section 2(a), by assessors who hold a relevant 
qualifying credential approved by the Secretary of Energy, to collect 
energy use information during an approved walk-through of the home for 
the purpose of creating a score document for the home.
    (c) Score Document.--A score document under the Program shall 
include--
            (1) energy use information collected during an assessment 
        described in subsection (b) for a home, differentiated by 
        specific energy uses and provided on a relative scale based on 
        benchmarks set within the Program; and
            (2) cost-effective recommendations of means to improve the 
        score and energy efficiency of the home.

SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.

    In this Act:
            (1) Home.--The term ``home'' means any permanent legal 
        residence with a roof and walls which is not a mobile home, 
        manufactured home, houseboat, camper van, recreational vehicle, 
        apartment, hospital, assisted living facility, or office 
        building.
            (2) Manufactured home.--The term ``manufactured home'' has 
        the meaning given such term in section 603 of the National 
        Manufactured Housing Construction and Safety Standards Act of 
        1974 (42 U.S.C. 5402).
            (3) Program.--The term ``Program'' means the Home Energy 
        Score Program maintained by the Department of Energy under 
        section 2.
            (4) Score document.--The term ``score document'' means a 
        document described in section 2(c).
                                 <all>