[§196-11] Definitions. As used in this part:

"Acquisition" means acquiring by contract supplies or services, including construction, by and for the use of the State through purchase or lease, whether the supplies or services are already in existence or must be created, developed, demonstrated, or evaluated. Acquisition begins at the point when agency needs are established and includes the description of requirements to satisfy agency needs, solicitation and selection of sources, award of contracts, contract financing, contract performance, contract administration, and those technical and management functions directly related to the process of fulfilling agency needs by contract.

"Agency" means any executive department, independent commission, board, bureau, office, or other establishment of the State, or any quasi-public institution that is supported in whole or in part by state funds.

"Energy-savings performance contract" means an agreement for the provision of energy services and equipment, including building energy conservation enhancing retrofits and alternate energy technologies, in which a private sector person or company agrees to finance, design, construct, install, maintain, operate, or manage energy systems or equipment to improve the energy efficiency of, or produce energy in connection with, a facility in exchange for a portion of the cost savings, lease payments, or specified revenues including utility rebates and any other available incentives, and the level of payments is made contingent upon the verified energy savings, energy production, avoided maintenance, avoided energy equipment replacement, or any combination of the foregoing bases.

"ENERGY STAR" means a labeling program introduced by the United States Environmental Protection Agency in 1992 as a voluntary labeling program designed to identify and promote energy-efficient products, in order to reduce carbon dioxide emissions.

"Exempt facility" or "exempt mobile equipment" means a facility or mobile equipment for which an agency utilizes criteria established by the energy resources coordinator to determine that compliance with this part is not practical.

"Facility" means a building or buildings or similar structure owned or leased by, or otherwise under the jurisdiction of, an agency.

"Life-cycle cost-effective" means the life-cycle costs of a product, project, or measure that are estimated to be equal to or less than the base case, i.e., current or standard practice or product.

"Life-cycle costs" means the sum of the present values of investment costs, capital costs, installation costs, energy costs, operating costs, maintenance costs, and disposal costs, over the lifetime of the project, product, or measure.

"Mobile equipment" means any state-owned vessel, aircraft, or off-road vehicle.

"Renewable energy" means energy produced by solar, energy conserved by passive solar design/daylighting, ocean thermal, wind, wave, geothermal, waste-to-energy, or biomass power.

"Renewable energy technology" means technology that uses renewable energy to provide light, heat, cooling, or mechanical or electrical energy for use in facilities or other activities. The term includes the use of integrated whole-building designs that rely upon renewable energy resources, including passive solar design/daylighting.

"Source energy" means the energy that is used at a site and consumed in producing and delivering energy to a site, including power generation, transmission, and distribution losses, and that is used to perform a specific function, such as space conditioning, lighting, or water heating.

"Utility" means a public utility as defined in section 269-1. Utility includes federally owned nonprofit producers, county organizations, and investor or privately owned producers regulated by the state or federal government, cooperatives owned by members and providing services mostly to their members, and other nonprofit state and county agencies serving in this capacity.

"Utility energy-efficiency service" means demand-side management services provided by a utility to improve the efficiency of use of the commodity, such as electricity and gas being distributed. Services may include energy efficiency and renewable energy project auditing, financing, design, installation, operation, maintenance, and monitoring. [L 2002, c 77, pt of §9]