[Congressional Record Volume 162, Number 40 (Monday, March 14, 2016)]
[House]
[Pages H1305-H1307]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
ENERGY EFFICIENT GOVERNMENT TECHNOLOGY ACT
Mr. WHITFIELD. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the
bill (H.R. 1268) to amend the Energy Independence and Security Act of
2007 to promote energy efficiency via information and computing
technologies, and for other purposes, as amended.
The Clerk read the title of the bill.
The text of the bill is as follows:
H.R. 1268
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 ``Energy Efficient Government
Technology Act''.
SEC. 2. ENERGY-EFFICIENT AND ENERGY-SAVING INFORMATION
TECHNOLOGIES.
(a) Amendment.--Subtitle C of title V of the Energy
Independence and Security Act of 2007 (Public Law 110-140;
121 Stat. 1661) is amended by adding at the end the
following:
``SEC. 530. ENERGY-EFFICIENT AND ENERGY-SAVING INFORMATION
TECHNOLOGIES.
``(a) Definitions.--In this section:
``(1) Director.--The term `Director' means the Director of
the Office of Management and Budget.
``(2) Information technology.--The term `information
technology' has the meaning given that term in section 11101
of title 40, United States Code.
``(b) Development of Implementation Strategy.--Not later
than 1 year after the date of enactment of this section, each
Federal agency shall coordinate with the Director, the
Secretary, and the Administrator of the Environmental
Protection Agency to develop an implementation strategy (that
includes best practices and measurement and verification
techniques) for the maintenance, purchase, and use by the
Federal agency of energy-efficient and energy-saving
information technologies, taking into consideration the
performance goals established under subsection (d).
``(c) Administration.--In developing an implementation
strategy under subsection (b), each Federal agency shall
consider--
``(1) advanced metering infrastructure;
``(2) energy-efficient data center strategies and methods
of increasing asset and infrastructure utilization;
``(3) advanced power management tools;
``(4) building information modeling, including building
energy management;
``(5) secure telework and travel substitution tools; and
``(6) mechanisms to ensure that the agency realizes the
energy cost savings brought about through increased
efficiency and utilization.
``(d) Performance Goals.--
``(1) In general.--Not later than 180 days after the date
of enactment of this section, the Director, in consultation
with the Secretary, shall establish performance goals for
evaluating the efforts of Federal agencies in improving the
maintenance, purchase, and use of energy-efficient and
energy-saving information technology.
``(2) Best practices.--The Chief Information Officers
Council established under section 3603 of title 44, United
States Code, shall recommend best practices for the
attainment of the performance goals, which shall include
Federal agency consideration of, to the extent applicable by
law, the use of--
``(A) energy savings performance contracting; and
``(B) utility energy services contracting.
``(e) Reports.--
``(1) Agency reports.--Each Federal agency shall include in
the report of the agency under section 527 a description of
the efforts and results of the agency under this section.
``(2) OMB government efficiency reports and scorecards.--
Effective beginning not later than October 1, 2017, the
Director shall include in the annual report and scorecard of
the Director required under section 528 a description of the
efforts and results of Federal agencies under this
section.''.
(b) Conforming Amendment.--The table of contents for the
Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 is amended by
adding after the item relating to section 529 the following:
``Sec. 530. Energy-efficient and energy-saving information
technologies.''.
SEC. 3. ENERGY EFFICIENT DATA CENTERS.
Section 453 of the Energy Independence and Security Act of
2007 (42 U.S.C. 17112) is amended--
(1) in subsection (b)(2)(D)(iv), by striking ``determined
by the organization'' and inserting ``proposed by the
stakeholders'';
(2) by striking subsection (b)(3); and
(3) by striking subsections (c) through (g) and inserting
the following:
``(c) Stakeholder Involvement.--The Secretary and the
Administrator shall carry out subsection (b) in collaboration
with the information technology industry and other key
stakeholders, with the goal of producing results that
accurately reflect the most relevant and useful information
available. In such collaboration, the Secretary and the
Administrator shall pay particular attention to organizations
that--
``(1) have members with expertise in energy efficiency and
in the development, operation, and functionality of data
centers, information technology equipment, and software, such
as representatives of hardware manufacturers, data center
operators, and facility managers;
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``(2) obtain and address input from Department of Energy
National Laboratories or any college, university, research
institution, industry association, company, or public
interest group with applicable expertise;
``(3) follow--
``(A) commonly accepted procedures for the development of
specifications; and
``(B) accredited standards development processes; and
``(4) have a mission to promote energy efficiency for data
centers and information technology.
``(d) Measurements and Specifications.--The Secretary and
the Administrator shall consider and assess the adequacy of
the specifications, measurements, best practices, and
benchmarks described in subsection (b) for use by the Federal
Energy Management Program, the Energy Star Program, and other
efficiency programs of the Department of Energy or the
Environmental Protection Agency.
``(e) Study.--The Secretary, in collaboration with the
Administrator, shall, not later than 18 months after the date
of enactment of the Energy Efficient Government Technology
Act, make available to the public an update to the Report to
Congress on Server and Data Center Energy Efficiency
published on August 2, 2007, under section 1 of Public Law
109-431 (120 Stat. 2920), that provides--
``(1) a comparison and gap analysis of the estimates and
projections contained in the original report with new data
regarding the period from 2008 through 2015;
``(2) an analysis considering the impact of information
technologies, including virtualization and cloud computing,
in the public and private sectors;
``(3) an evaluation of the impact of the combination of
cloud platforms, mobile devices, social media, and big data
on data center energy usage;
``(4) an evaluation of water usage in data centers and
recommendations for reductions in such water usage; and
``(5) updated projections and recommendations for best
practices through fiscal year 2020.
``(f) Data Center Energy Practitioner Program.--The
Secretary, in collaboration with key stakeholders and the
Director of the Office of Management and Budget, shall
maintain a data center energy practitioner program that leads
to the certification of energy practitioners qualified to
evaluate the energy usage and efficiency opportunities in
Federal data centers. Each Federal agency shall consider
having the data centers of the agency evaluated every 4
years, in accordance with section 543(f) of the National
Energy Conservation Policy Act (42 U.S.C. 8253), by energy
practitioners certified pursuant to such program.
``(g) Open Data Initiative.--The Secretary, in
collaboration with key stakeholders and the Director of the
Office of Management and Budget, shall establish an open data
initiative for Federal data center energy usage data, with
the purpose of making such data available and accessible in a
manner that encourages further data center innovation,
optimization, and consolidation. In establishing the
initiative, the Secretary shall consider the use of the
online Data Center Maturity Model.
``(h) International Specifications and Metrics.--The
Secretary, in collaboration with key stakeholders, shall
actively participate in efforts to harmonize global
specifications and metrics for data center energy and water
efficiency.
``(i) Data Center Utilization Metric.--The Secretary, in
collaboration with key stakeholders, shall facilitate the
development of an efficiency metric that measures the energy
efficiency of a data center (including equipment and
facilities).
``(j) Protection of Proprietary Information.--The Secretary
and the Administrator shall not disclose any proprietary
information or trade secrets provided by any individual or
company for the purposes of carrying out this section or the
programs and initiatives established under this section.''.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from
Kentucky (Mr. Whitfield) and the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr.
Kennedy) each will control 20 minutes.
The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Kentucky.
General Leave
Mr. WHITFIELD. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members
may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks
and to insert extraneous materials in the Record on the bill.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentleman from Kentucky?
There was no objection.
{time} 1515
Mr. WHITFIELD. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may
consume.
I thank Representative Eshoo of California, a member of the Energy
and Commerce Committee, for her work on this bill.
This legislation would require Federal agencies to coordinate with
the Office of Management and Budget, the Department of Energy, and the
Environmental Protection Agency to develop an implementation strategy,
including best practices and measurement and verification techniques
for the maintenance, purchase, and use of energy-efficient and energy-
saving information technologies. OMB would be required to track and
report on each agency's progress.
In 2013, the U.S. data centers consumed an estimated 91 billion
kilowatt-hours of electricity, enough electricity to power all of the
households in New York City twice over; and, I might say, they are on
track to reach 140 billion kilowatt-hours by 2020. This amounts to
roughly 2 percent of all the electricity used in the U.S. each year.
Federal data centers are responsible for at least 10 percent of all
U.S. data center energy use.
Consequently, this bill seeks to improve the energy efficiency of
Federal data centers by, in part, requiring the Department of Energy to
update a 2007 report on data center energy efficiency and maintain a
data center energy practitioner certification program. DOE also would
establish an open data initiative to help share best practices and
support further innovation and develop a metric that measures data
center energy efficiency.
So this is a very important bill that focuses on efficiency in these
Federal data centers, and I would urge all of the Members to support
this legislation.
I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
I rise in support of H.R. 1268, the Energy Efficient Government
Technology Act, sponsored by two Energy and Commerce Committee members,
the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Eshoo) and the gentleman from
Illinois (Mr. Kinzinger).
H.R. 1268 promotes the use of energy-efficient and energy-saving
information technologies and practices across the Federal Government,
especially in data centers.
The bill amends the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007, the
EISA Act, to require Federal agencies to coordinate with OMB, DOE, and
EPA in developing an implementation strategy for maintenance, purchase,
and use of energy-efficient and energy-saving information technologies.
The legislation highlights specific items that should be considered
in the strategy and sets performance goals to evaluate agencies'
efforts. It would also amend EISA to require DOE and EPA to collaborate
with stakeholders as they implement the data center efficiency program
and other measures to improve data center efficiency.
This legislation was reported with unanimous consent last month by
the Energy and Commerce Committee, and the provisions of H.R. 1268
previously passed committee in 2015 as part of H.R. 8.
I commend Ms. Eshoo and Mr. Kinzinger. This is good, bipartisan
efficiency legislation that deserves all of our support.
I urge my colleagues to support its passage.
I yield back the balance of my time.
Mr. WHITFIELD. Mr. Speaker, I have no further speakers.
I yield back the balance of my time.
Ms. ESHOO. Mr. Speaker, I'm pleased to rise today in support of my
legislation, the Energy Efficient Government Technology Act. I thank
Chairman Upton, Ranking Member Pallone, and my legislative partner
Congressman Adam Kinzinger for their strong support of this bill.
This bill is all about bringing our federal government's IT and data
centers into the 21st century. The federal government is the nation's
largest landowner, employer, and energy user and should lead by example
in this field. By requiring federal agencies to utilize the best
technologies and energy management strategies, this legislation will
reduce the federal government's energy use, save taxpayer dollars, and
set the standard for the private sector.
Today, the world generates more data in twelve hours than was
generated in all of human history prior to 2003. This data must be
stored and processed at data centers which are the backbone of the 21st
century economy but can be highly energy inefficient. While we now
routinely hear about data centers, this was not the case when I began
examining this issue over a decade ago. In those days I had to explain
to my colleagues what a data center was. Today, most people understand
that data centers are a critical part of our national infrastructure
and are found in nearly every sector of our economy. According to the
GSA, the federal government alone has
[[Page H1307]]
more than 2,000 data centers which store everything from Social
Security and tax records to e-books at the Library of Congress.
Data centers are critical to our economy and our lives, but they can
be extremely inefficient when it comes to energy use. Experts estimate
that most data centers could slash their energy use by up to 80 or 90
percent by simply implementing existing technologies and best
practices. Several Silicon Valley companies have taken the lead in
developing efficient, sustainable data centers, but we can do much more
across both the private sector and government.
H.R. 1268 will drive energy efficiency improvements across the
government's IT and data centers by requiring federal agencies to:
1. Utilize the best technologies and energy management strategies;
2. Formulate specific goals and periodically evaluate their energy
efficiency; and
3. Make data center energy usage statistics public in a way that
empowers further innovation.
Importantly, the bill requires government agencies to formulate
specific performance goals and a means to calculate overall cost
savings. The Department of Energy estimates that implementation of best
practices alone could reduce the government's data center energy bill
by 20 to 40 percent. And the Center for Climate and Energy Solutions
found that widespread adoption of energy efficient information
technologies could save the federal government over $5 billion in
energy costs through 2020.
In 2005, I authored language in the Energy Policy Act which mandated
an EPA study on the energy use and energy costs of data centers. This
report was transmitted to Congress in 2007 and served as a driver of
both private and public investment in energy efficiency. Based on
widespread agreement across government, industry and academia, the bill
before us today requires an update to this important report. H.R. 1268
also creates a new ``Open Data'' initiative to make federal data center
energy usage statistics publicly available in a way that empowers
further innovation.
The Energy Efficient Government Technology Act passed the House last
Congress with 375 votes. It passed the House again in this Congress as
part of H.R. 8, and it is included in the Senate's comprehensive energy
bill which is currently being debated. This noncontroversial,
bipartisan bill has strong support from both industry and energy
efficiency advocates, and I urge my colleagues to support it.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the
gentleman from Kentucky (Mr. Whitfield) that the House suspend the
rules and pass the bill, H.R. 1268, as amended.
The question was taken; and (two-thirds being in the affirmative) the
rules were suspended and the bill, as amended, was passed.
A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.
____________________