On April 1, Representatives Brad Schneider (D-IL) and Tom Rice (R-SC) re-introduced the "Energy Efficient Qualified Improvement Property Act" (the "E-QUIP Act"), which would simplify the tax depreciation schedule to make high performance upgrades of commercial and multifamily buildings more financially feasible. Under the current tax code, cost recovery varies widely across different types of building improvements. The E-QUIP Act (H.R. 2346) would simplify the code and provide for a uniform 10-year depreciation period for a wide range of high-performance energy-efficient building improvements. 

On April 12, President Joe Biden met with a bipartisan group of lawmakers at the White House to discuss infrastructure legislation. At the moment, there are several proposals that include climate provisions such as Biden’s "American Jobs Plan," the Energy and Commerce Committee’s CLEAN Future Act (H.R. 1512), and the GREEN Act (H.R. 848), a bill with green tax provisions.

A new report from the Rocky Mountain Institute and World Resources Institute states that in 2020, local governments procured the largest amount of renewable energy generation capacity ever added in one year. This includes 95 local governments across 33 states with a total of 3,683 megawatts (MW) of new renewable energy generation capacity. This amounts to enough electricity to power approximately 812,000 households annually. Solar was the most popular renewable energy for procurement, at 79% of the total, followed by wind at 17% and geothermal at 4%. This is an indication of the broad city-level efforts across the U.S. to fight climate change and set ambitious emissions reduction goals. More on the report can be found at the Local Government Renewables Action Tracker here. 

BSR/ASHRAE Standard 228P, Standard Method for Evaluating Zero Net Energy and Zero Net Carbon Building Performance, has been released for public review. The standard sets requirements for evaluating whether a building or group of buildings meets a definition of "zero net energy" or whether those buildings meet a definition of "zero net carbon." It provides a consistent method of expressing qualifications for zero net energy and zero net carbon buildings associated with the design of new buildings and the operation of existing buildings. The draft can be found here and comments are due May 17.