The Florida Senate

255.252  Findings and intent.--

(1)  Operating and maintenance expenditures associated with energy equipment and with energy consumed in state-financed and leased buildings represent a significant cost over the life of a building. Energy conserved by appropriate building design not only reduces the demand for energy but also reduces costs for building operation. For example, commercial buildings are estimated to use from 20 to 80 percent more energy than would be required if energy-conserving designs were used. The size, design, orientation, and operability of windows, the ratio of ventilating air to air heated or cooled, the level of lighting consonant with space-use requirements, the handling of occupancy loads, and the ability to zone off areas not requiring equivalent levels of heating or cooling are but a few of the considerations necessary to conserving energy.

(2)  Significant efforts are underway by the General Services Administration, the National Institute of Standards and Technology, and others to detail the considerations and practices for energy conservation in buildings. Most important is that energy-efficient designs provide energy savings over the life of the building structure. Conversely, energy-inefficient designs cause excess and wasteful energy use and high costs over that life. With buildings lasting many decades and with energy costs escalating rapidly, it is essential that the costs of operation and maintenance for energy-using equipment be included in all design proposals for state buildings.

(3)  In order that such energy-efficiency considerations become a function of building design, and also a model for future application in the private sector, it shall be the policy of the state that buildings constructed and financed by the state be designed and constructed in a manner which will minimize the consumption of energy used in the operation and maintenance of such buildings. It is further the policy of the state, when economically feasible, to retrofit existing state-owned buildings in a manner which will minimize the consumption of energy used in the operation and maintenance of such buildings.

(4)  In addition to designing and constructing new buildings to be energy-efficient, it shall be the policy of the state to operate, maintain, and renovate existing state facilities, or provide for their renovation, in a manner which will minimize energy consumption and ensure that facilities leased by the state are operated so as to minimize energy use. Agencies are encouraged to consider shared savings financing of such projects, using contracts which split the resulting savings for a specified period of time between the agency and the private firm or cogeneration contracts which otherwise permit the state to lower its energy costs. Such contracts may be funded from the operating budget.

History.--s. 2, ch. 74-187; s. 1, ch. 78-26; s. 1, ch. 80-286; s. 1, ch. 85-256; s. 3, ch. 90-320.