[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 9372 Introduced in House (IH)]
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119th CONGRESS
2d Session
H. R. 9372
To direct the Director of the National Institute of Standards and
Technology to develop best practices for measuring data center energy
use, study data availability for the purpose of improving energy demand
forecasting capabilities, and for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
June 18, 2026
Mr. Subramanyam (for himself, Mr. Obernolte, and Mrs. Foushee)
introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on
Science, Space, and Technology
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To direct the Director of the National Institute of Standards and
Technology to develop best practices for measuring data center energy
use, study data availability for the purpose of improving energy demand
forecasting capabilities, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Data Infrastructure Energy
Measurement and Standards Act''.
SEC. 2. ACTIVITIES TO SUPPORT METROLOGY OF DATA CENTER ENERGY USE.
(a) Best Practices for Measuring Data Center Energy Use.--The
Director of the National Institute of Standards and Technology, in
consultation with the Secretary of Energy, shall carry out a
measurement research program (in this section referred to as the
``program'') to inform the development or improvement of best
practices, definitions, methodologies, procedures, and technical
standards for the measurement of energy and water use by data centers
and the workloads of such centers, including the measurement of energy
and water use resulting from training and inference of artificial
intelligence models or other compute intensive information processes.
(b) Activities.--In carrying out the program, the Director shall
carry out the following:
(1) Conduct research and testing to improve the accuracy,
efficacy, timeliness, and reliability of the measurement of
energy and water use by data centers and the workloads of such
centers.
(2) Develop or identify best practices, guidelines,
definitions, methodologies, and procedures for measuring and
reporting energy and water use by data centers and the
workloads of such centers, taking into consideration the
following:
(A) The type of workload and aggregate energy and
water use by a given data center, including complex
artificial intelligence workloads.
(B) Temporal power consumption load profiles
associated with data center energy use accounting for
behind-the-meter generation, front-of-meter generation,
and energy generation not provided to the electric grid
on a facility-level basis.
(C) Varying information technology system, power
chain, and cooling configurations, including
consideration of servers, storage, network, power
transformation, distribution, and uninterruptible
supply technologies.
(D) Temporal variations in electricity loads due to
variations in workloads, technology configurations, and
data center locations, including local climate and
resource factors.
(3) Study data needs for relevant research and energy and
water demand forecasting, and relevant driving factors relating
to such needs, including an identification of the following:
(A) Existing gaps in the following:
(i) Data collection.
(ii) Data availability from public and non-
public sources.
(iii) Researcher access.
(B) Risks related to the gaps identified in clauses
(i) through (iii) of subparagraph (A), including the
reliability of energy and water demand forecasts from
different stakeholder perspectives.
(4) Support the development of standardized metrics and
data sharing mechanisms that would help provide information to
researchers and relevant stakeholders regarding data center
energy and water use in such a way that promotes improved
energy and water demand forecasting capabilities.
(5) Coordinate with the Secretary of Energy to carry out
the following:
(A) Ensure applicable metrics and data are managed,
stewarded, and archived appropriately, and in
accordance with the best practices described in
paragraph (2).
(B) Promote full and open exchange of such metrics
and data at Federal and State levels, and with
academia, industry, and other users, as practicable and
appropriate.
(6) Coordinate with international partners, including
international standards organizations, to maintain global data
center energy measurement standards.
(c) Stakeholder Engagement.--In carrying out subsection (b), the
Director shall seek to engage with and convene representatives of
industry, academia, nonprofit organizations, standards development
organizations, civil society groups, and appropriate Federal
departments and agencies.
(d) Briefings.--Not later than one year after the date of the
enactment of this Act, and again not later than two years after such
date, the Director shall brief the Committee on Science, Space, and
Technology of the House of Representatives and the Committee on
Commerce, Science, and Transportation and the Committee on Energy and
Natural Resources of the Senate on the program.
(e) Authorization of Appropriations.--There are authorized to be
appropriated to the Director to carry out this section $10,000,000 for
each of fiscal years 2027 through 2029.
(f) Definitions.--In this section:
(1) Artificial intelligence.--The term ``artificial
intelligence'' has the meaning given such term in section 5002
of the National Artificial Intelligence Initiative Act of 2020
(15 U.S.C. 9401).
(2) Artificial intelligence model.--The term ``artificial
intelligence model'' means a software component of an
information system that implements artificial intelligence
technology and uses computational, statistical, or machine-
learning techniques to produce outputs from a defined set of
inputs.
(3) Behind-the-meter generation.--The term ``behind-the-
meter generation'' means the generation or storage of energy,
including electricity and fuels consumed in backup and onsite
generation, using a system that operates on the customer side
of the applicable utility meter.
(4) Data center.--The term ``data center'' means any
facility that primarily contains electronic equipment used to
process, store, or transmit digital information.
(5) Director.--The term ``Director'' means the Director of
the National Institute of Standards and Technology.
(6) Front-of-meter generation.--The term ``front-of-meter
generation'' means the generation of energy at a facility
directly connected to a grid with the primary purpose of
providing electricity to one or more offsite locations via such
grid or utility meters with which such facility does not have
an electrical connection.
(7) Information system.--The term ``information system''
has the meaning given such term in section 3502 of title 44,
United States Code.
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