Oregon Statutes - Chapter 469 - Energy; Conservation Programs; Energy Facilities - Section 469.185 - Definitions for ORS 469.185 to 469.225 and 469.878; rules.

As used in ORS 469.185 to 469.225 and 469.878:

(1) “Alternative fuel vehicle” means a vehicle as defined by the Director of the State Department of Energy by rule that is used primarily in connection with the conduct of a trade or business and that is manufactured or modified to use an alternative fuel, including but not limited to electricity, ethanol, methanol, gasohol and propane or natural gas, regardless of energy consumption savings.

(2) “Car sharing facility” means the expenses of operating a car sharing program, including but not limited to the fair market value of parking spaces used to store the fleet of cars available for a car sharing program, but does not include the costs of the fleet of cars.

(3) “Car sharing program” means a program in which drivers pay to become members in order to have joint access to a fleet of cars from a common parking area on an hourly basis. “Car sharing program” does not include operations conducted by car rental agencies.

(4) “Cost” means the capital costs and expenses necessarily incurred in the acquisition, erection, construction and installation of a facility, including site development costs and expenses for a sustainable building practices facility.

(5) “Energy facility” means any capital investment for which the first year energy savings yields a simple payback period of greater than one year. An energy facility includes:

(a) Any land, structure, building, installation, excavation, machinery, equipment or device, or any addition to, reconstruction of or improvement of, land or an existing structure, building, installation, excavation, machinery, equipment or device necessarily acquired, erected, constructed or installed by any person in connection with the conduct of a trade or business and actually used in the processing or utilization of renewable energy resources to:

(A) Replace a substantial part or all of an existing use of electricity, petroleum or natural gas;

(B) Provide the initial use of energy where electricity, petroleum or natural gas would have been used;

(C) Generate electricity to replace an existing source of electricity or to provide a new source of electricity for sale by or use in the trade or business;

(D) Perform a process that obtains energy resources from material that would otherwise be solid waste as defined in ORS 459.005; or

(E) Manufacture or distribute alternative fuels, including but not limited to electricity, ethanol, methanol, gasohol or biodiesel.

(b) Any acquisition of, addition to, reconstruction of or improvement of land or an existing structure, building, installation, excavation, machinery, equipment or device necessarily acquired, erected, constructed or installed by any person in connection with the conduct of a trade or business in order to substantially reduce the consumption of purchased energy.

(c) A necessary feature of a new commercial building or multiple unit dwelling, as dwelling is defined by ORS 469.160, that causes that building or dwelling to exceed an energy performance standard in the state building code.

(d) The replacement of an electric motor with another electric motor that substantially reduces the consumption of electricity.

(6) “Facility” means an energy facility, recycling facility, transportation facility, car sharing facility, sustainable building practices facility, alternative fuel vehicle or facilities necessary to operate alternative fuel vehicles, including but not limited to an alternative fuel vehicle refueling station, a high-efficiency combined heat and power facility, a high-performance home, a homebuilder-installed renewable energy system, or a renewable energy resource equipment manufacturing facility.

(7) “High-efficiency combined heat and power facility” means a device or equipment that simultaneously produces heat and electricity from a single source of fuel and that meets the criteria established for a high-efficiency combined heat and power facility under ORS 469.197.

(8) “High-performance home” means a new single-family dwelling that:

(a) Is designed and constructed to reduce net purchased energy through use of both energy efficiency and on-site renewable energy resources; and

(b) Meets the criteria established for a high-performance home under ORS 469.197.

(9) “Homebuilder-installed renewable energy system” means a renewable energy resource system that:

(a) Meets the criteria established for a renewable energy resource system under ORS 469.197; and

(b) Is installed in a new single-family dwelling by, or at the direction of, the homebuilder constructing the dwelling.

(10) “Qualified transit pass contract” means a purchase agreement entered into between a transportation provider and a person, the terms of which obligate the person to purchase transit passes on behalf or for the benefit of employees, students, patients or other individuals over a specified period of time.

(11) “Recycling facility” means equipment used by a trade or business solely for recycling:

(a) Including:

(A) Equipment used solely for hauling and refining used oil;

(B) New vehicles or modifications to existing vehicles used solely to transport used recyclable materials that cannot be used further in their present form or location such as glass, metal, paper, aluminum, rubber and plastic;

(C) Trailers, racks or bins that are used for hauling used recyclable materials and are added to or attached to existing waste collection vehicles; and

(D) Any equipment used solely for processing recyclable materials such as bailers, flatteners, crushers, separators and scales.

(b) But not including equipment used for transporting or processing scrap materials that are recycled as a part of the normal operation of a trade or business as defined by the director.

(12)(a) “Renewable energy resource” includes, but is not limited to:

(A) Straw, forest slash, wood waste or other wastes from farm or forest land, nonpetroleum plant or animal based biomass, ocean wave energy, solar energy, wind power, water power or geothermal energy; or

(B) A hydroelectric generating facility that obtains all applicable permits and complies with all state and federal statutory requirements for the protection of fish and wildlife and:

(i) That does not exceed 10 megawatts of installed capacity; or

(ii) Qualifies as a research, development or demonstration facility.

(b) “Renewable energy resource” does not include a hydroelectric generating facility that is not described in paragraph (a) of this subsection.

(13) “Renewable energy resource equipment manufacturing facility” means any structure, building, installation, excavation, machinery, equipment or device, or an addition, reconstruction or improvement to land or an existing structure, building, installation, excavation, machinery, equipment or device, that is necessarily acquired, constructed or installed by a person in connection with the conduct of a trade or business, that is used primarily to manufacture equipment, machinery or other products designed to use a renewable energy resource and that meets the criteria established under ORS 469.197.

(14) “Sustainable building practices facility” means a commercial building in which building practices that reduce the amount of energy, water or other resources needed for construction and operation of the building are used. “Sustainable building practices facility” may be further defined by the State Department of Energy by rule, including rules that establish traditional building practice baselines in energy, water or other resource usage for comparative purposes for use in determining whether a facility is a sustainable building practices facility.

(15) “Transportation facility” means a transportation project that reduces energy use during commuting to and from work or school, during work-related travel, or during travel to obtain medical or other services, and may be further defined by the department by rule. “Transportation facility” includes, but is not limited to, a qualified transit pass contract or a transportation services contract.

(16) “Transportation provider” means a public, private or nonprofit entity that provides transportation services to members of the public.

(17) “Transportation services contract” means a contract that is related to a transportation facility, and may be further defined by the department by rule. [1979 c.512 §3; 1981 c.894 §17; 1985 c.745 §1; 1991 c.711 §1; 1997 c.534 §11; 1997 c.656 §5; 1999 c.365 §1; 1999 c.623 §4; 1999 c.765 §4; 2001 c.583 §4; 2007 c.591 §1; 2007 c.843 §16]

Note: Section 27, chapter 843, Oregon Laws 2007, provides:

Sec. 27. Section 22 of this 2007 Act [469.197] and the amendments to ORS 315.354, 315.356, 469.185, 469.200, 469.205, 469.206 and 469.215 by sections 14 to 20 of this 2007 Act apply to facilities acquired, erected, constructed or installed on or after January 1, 2007, and to tax years beginning on or after January 1, 2007. [2007 c.843 §27]

Section:  Previous  469.165  469.170  469.171  469.172  469.175  469.176  469.180  469.185  469.190  469.195  469.197  469.200  469.205  469.206  469.207  Next

Last modified: August 7, 2008