President Trump’s executive order on "Unleashing American Energy," and priorities announced by US-EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin and US-DOE Secretary Chris Wright, emphasize the same principles: cutting energy costs, pursuing an “all of the above” strategy for American energy abundance, strengthening the nation’s electric grid, streamlining federal permitting processes and fostering innovation in artificial intelligence (AI).

The House Bipartisan Task Force on AI recently underscored that America's economic and national security depend heavily on a robust and modernized power grid. Our nation needs enough energy to meet growing electricity demands driven by AI, advanced manufacturing, electric vehicle adoption—and to power our buildings. US-DOE projects that data centers will consume up to 12 percent of U.S. electricity by 2028, primarily to meet AI and cloud computing needs.

President Biden signed the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 (IRA) into law on August 16, 2022. If fully implemented, the legislation will invest almost $370 billion over 10 years to tackle the climate crisis.

The new GOP-controlled Congress, however, has vowed to eliminate IRA incentives to “pay for” tax cuts promised by President Trump on the campaign trail, and to extend tax cuts set to expire under Trump 1.0’s major code overhaul passed in 2017. Many states with Republican Congress members benefit from clean energy projects supported by the IRA, and some House GOP members defend the incentives. It thus remains to be seen whether Congress may significantly dismantle the IRA with a sledgehammer, or excise specific provisions with a scalpel.

Regulations in the U.S. and abroad seek to require companies to publicly disclose climate-related risks on their finances, operations and assets. Some of these rules are proving more durable than others.

States, cities, and other localities are increasingly passing laws and ordinances that impose regulatory mandates on buildings to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, energy consumption, or both. These local laws are known as Building Performance Standards (BPS).

The effect of BPS laws, and the energy consumption and emissions “targets” they would impose on buildings, can require asset owners to pay for energy efficiency “retrofits,” electrification projects, and install solar panels or other clean energy technologies. If an owner does not take such steps to reduce emissions or energy use, they could pay fines or penalties.

Flexible, voluntary guidelines–like those released for federally-owned buildings–are needed at the national level to help standardize a potential patchwork of divergent state and local laws that vary in how they regulate buildings’ energy usage and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.

Lessons Learned to Shape Fair and Reasonable Building Performance Standards (BPS) 20-Point Policy Guide Oct. 2024

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s ENERGY STAR for Certification for Buildings program is a proven platform for building owners and managers to “label” their assets as top energy efficiency performers in the marketplace.

Investors, tenants, and employees seek buildings and workplaces with ENERGY STAR ratings because they signal well-managed, profitable assets with reduced carbon footprints.