Rhode Island § 37-8-19 - Public Buildings

§ 37-8-19. Energy use in public buildings.

(a) The director of the department of administration shall publish and maintain standards and guidelines for energy conservation and energy cost savings in new, renovated, and newly leased public buildings. The standards shall be, at a minimum, in compliance with the Rhode Island State Building Code, chapter 27.3 of title 23 and will exceed and supplement that code where it is determined to be cost effective to do so.

(b) The standards shall address, at a minimum, lighting, heating, ventilation and air conditioning, building envelope, site orientation, use of passive solar energy, use of energy management systems, use of dual fuel burning capabilities, and use of any available financial subsidies or grants for energy conservation. The objective of the standards and guidelines will be to implement cost effective building design, to achieve energy efficiency, and to minimize the overall cost of constructing, renovating, operating, and maintaining public buildings.

(c) All new, renovated, and newly leased public buildings shall be designed in compliance with the standards and guidelines which may be changed and updated periodically by the director.

(d) Architects and engineers hired by the state will be required to comply with these standards and will also be required to meet with the statewide energy conservation officer and state building code commissioner, or their designees, commencing with the design phase to review the standards and guidelines and to determine how to incorporate them into the project design. A written authorization must be obtained from the statewide energy conservation officer before plans and specifications can be approved for a building permit by the building code commissioner.

(e) The official in charge of supervising the design and construction of public buildings at each of the following state agencies shall have the opportunity to comment on all standards, guidelines, and any periodic changes to them before they become finalized by the director:

(1) The university of Rhode Island, Rhode Island college, the department of MHRH, the community college of Rhode Island, the division of central services, the governor’s energy office, and the state building code commission.

(f) “Public building” for the purpose of this section shall mean any building owned by the state of Rhode Island or any building leased by the state of Rhode Island with a term of two (2) years or longer.