Reps. Schneider and Rice Promote Green Building Infrastructure

WASHINGTON. – Rep. Brad Schneider, D-Ill., and Rep. Tom Rice, R-S.C., introduced bipartisan legislation to help modernize America’s aging building infrastructure and spur more energy efficient investments.

The Energy Efficient Qualified Improvement Property, or E-QUIP, Act will create an elective 10-year, straight line cost recovery period for a new category of E-QUIP expenditures. 

“Taking on climate change is a top priority for me and the E-QUIP Act will help make both our buildings and our planet healthier, while at the same time modernizing and improving the tax code. The use of this new benefit will not only improve our nation’s infrastructure, but it will also reduce energy consumption and lower harmful emissions, leading to a cleaner and greener environment. E-QUIP will save businesses money, create jobs, and reduce emissions to combat climate change,” said Schneider.

The benefit would apply to improvements in both commercial buildings and multifamily units and covers components and controls for the main systems that most impact energy consumption, including heating and cooling, lighting, and envelope. 

In order to use this benefit, installed systems must meet strict high-performance standards that represent the highest energy efficient equipment available.

“The E-QUIP Act checks all of the boxes for smart energy, climate, and economic policy,” said Jeffrey D. DeBoer, president and CEO of The Real Estate Roundtable. “Installation of high performance HVAC, lights, windows, and other building components will modernize aging buildings, save businesses billions of dollars on their energy bills, create tens of thousands of jobs, and avoid carbon emissions equal to taking 22 million cars off the road for a year. The E-QUIP Act can also encourage state-of-the-art retrofits that enhance outdoor air ventilation rates — a key practice to improve a building’s health and indoor air quality, according to the best available science.”

Full text of the legislation can be found here.