[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;

[[Page H1306]]

       ``(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.

                          ____________________