Legislation + Regulation

Bipartisan Legislation to Revamp Tax Deduction for Energy-Efficient Upgrades to Commercial Buildings

Craig DiLouie November 8, 2012

A bill introduced into the Senate, the Commercial Buildings Modernization Act (S.3591), seeks to extend the Commercial Buildings Tax Deduction (179D) created by the Energy Policy Act to the end of 2016, make it easier for taxpayers to claim the deductions, and offer higher maximum deduction levels, as the current tax deduction is set to expire at the end of 2013.

However, the bar will be set higher for achieving the deduction–instead of the deduction based on the 2001 version of the ASHRAE/IES 90.1 energy standard, it would be based on the 2004 and later the 2007 version. For the Interim Lighting Rule, the most popular deduction, this would make achieving the reductions much harder unless the legislation were amended to include lighting controls beyond bilevel switching.

Given the state of Congress right now, we also cannot be sure this bill will see the President’s desk any time soon.

The Alliance to Save Energy has the story here, including a link to the bill.

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Craig DiLouie

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