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BETTER Data Privacy Policy

(Updated July 26, 2024)

Your company or organization (PROVIDER, also referred to below as "you" or "your") has agreed to upload PROPRIETARY DATA regarding building energy performance to the Building Efficiency Targeting Tool for Energy Retrofits (BETTER) that the Department of Energy (the Government) and its Laboratories, including Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) (collectively referred to herein as the RECIPIENT) have created and provide for registered users. PROPRIETARY DATA is defined as follows:

  1. (a) DATA that embody trade secrets or are commercial or financial information that is confidential and privileged;
  2. (b) DATA that is confidential and privileged and developed at private expense (i.e., not with Federal funds);
  3. (c) DATA that are not customarily released to the public;
  4. (d) DATA whose disclosure to the public could result in financial harm to the PROVIDER, to owners of buildings whose information is contained in the DATA, or to other stakeholders.

By consenting to these terms, PROVIDER certifies that the above statements apply to the DATA, and consents to the data being labeled and treated as PROPRIETARY DATA.

In order to provide PROPRIETARY DATA, you will be required to create an account and provide the RECIPIENT with a username, password, and email address. You are solely responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of the username and password you provided during the registration process and are fully responsible for all activities that occur under your password or account. Use of the BETTER tool and its models and output reports is at your discretion and subject to these BETTER Data Privacy and User Terms. BETTER is managed by and also subject to LBNL's privacy policy.

By providing PROPRIETARY DATA to RECIPIENT, the PROVIDER agrees to the following:

  1. (1) PROVIDER has the authority to provide the PROPRIETARY DATA to the RECIPIENT; that the information provided constitutes PROPRIETARY DATA; PROVIDER is voluntarily providing this data; and consents to the information being labeled and treated as PROPRIETARY DATA. If PROVIDER wishes to provide non-proprietary data, please contact support@better.lbl.gov.
  2. (2) RECIPIENT may host and display such PROPRIETARY DATA in PROVIDER's user account to enable the RECIPIENT and the Government to create analytical output reports using BETTER models.
    1. (a) The BETTER tool, BETTER analytical output reports and the ability to generate those reports based on a RECIPIENT's PROPRIETARY DATA are made available for BETTER users solely as research tools, and is subject to the availability of funding for the BETTER tool.
    2. (b) While the RECIPIENT will hold PROVIDER PROPRIETARY DATA as proprietary, however, the analytical output reports may be subject to public requests under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) or the California Public Records Act (CPRA). RECIPIENT will work with PROVIDERS if any FOIA or CPRA exemptions apply to respond appropriately to any request.
    3. (c) BETTER AND ANY OUTPUT REPORTS ARE PROVIDED "AS-IS," WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, AND NON-INFRINGEMENT. YOUR USE OF BETTER AND ANY OF ITS OUTPUT REPORTS IS AT YOUR OWN RISK.
    4. (d) You acknowledge and agree that the BETTER team, LBNL and the DOE will not be responsible for any damages to you or to any third party including for direct, indirect, special, incidental, consequential or punitive damages arising out of or in connection with your use, or from the use of, or inability to use BETTER. In no event shall BETTER, its staff, developers, contributors or copyright holders be liable for any claim, damages or other liability, whether in an action of contract, tort or otherwise, arising from, out of or in connection with the BETTER system or its output reports or its use or other dealings in the BETTER system.
  3. (3) The RECIPIENT may combine the DATA (both PROPRIETARY DATA and non-proprietary DATA) from many PROVIDERS to enable research concerning building energy performance. Results of research performed on the combined DATA may be made publicly available, and research findings may be published; however, your DATA itself will only be used to support research and will not be publicly released. Any published information will be the result of analysis performed on fully anonymous combined DATA Information that could be used to identify either the PROVIDER or individual buildings will be removed, including building addresses, contact information, and building names. For instance, combined DATA (both PROPRIETARY DATA and non-proprietary data) from many PROVIDERS may be used to create an "anonymous reference data set" of buildings. Statistics may be derived on the anonymous reference data set including data set median and standard deviation for: (a) cooling and/or heating change-points (electric and fossil), (b) cooling and/or heating sensitivities (electric and fossil), and (c) baseload energy consumption (electric and fossil). The anonymous reference data set statistics may be embedded in the BETTER source code, and the source code may be published to GitHub. However, PROPRIETARY DATA shall not be posted to GitHub in a raw or modified format. The statistics on the anonymous reference data set may be posted to GitHub or the BETTER Web Application.
  4. (4) The RECIPIENT may duplicate and use the PROPRIETARY DATA with the express limitations that it may not be disclosed outside the Government or used for purposes of manufacture without prior permission of the PROVIDER, except that further disclosure or use may be made solely for the following purposes:
    1. (a) Combine your PROPRIETARY DATA with DATA from other PROVIDERs to do research in improving building energy performance under the BETTER project and publish the results and recommendations to achieve that goal;
    2. (b) Use (except for manufacture) by support services contractors within the scope of their contracts to support BETTER;
    3. (c) This PROPRIETARY DATA may be disclosed for evaluation purposes under the restriction that the PROPRIETARY DATA be retained in confidence and not be further disclosed; and
    4. (d) This PROPRIETARY DATA may be disclosed to other contractors participating in the BETTER project, of which this contract is a part, for information or use (except for manufacture) in connection with the work performed under their contracts, and under the restriction that (i) the PROPRIETARY DATA be retained in confidence and not be further disclosed, (ii) the PROPRIETARY DATA will be returned or destroyed when the contractor's participation has ended, and (iii) the contractor and its affiliates will not retain any copy of the PROPRIETARY DATA outside their participation in the project or once their participation has ended.

The PROPRIETARY DATA shall remain protected until the end of the BETTER project and then will be either returned to the PROVIDER or destroyed by the RECIPIENT. Such protection will be maintained unless the PROPRIETARY DATA becomes publicly known without the fault of the RECIPIENT, shall come into RECIPIENT's possession without breach by the RECIPIENT of any of the obligations set forth herein, or is independently developed by RECIPIENT's employees who did not have access to such PROPRIETARY DATA.

Should you have questions, please contact support@better.lbl.gov.