[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 6 (Tuesday, January 10, 2017)]
[House]
[Pages H266-H268]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
ENERGY EFFICIENT GOVERNMENT TECHNOLOGY ACT
Mr. OLSON. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill
(H.R. 306) to amend the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 to
promote energy efficiency via information and computing technologies,
and for other purposes.
The Clerk read the title of the bill.
The text of the bill is as follows:
H.R. 306
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) In General.--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)--
(A) in paragraph (2)(D)(iv), by striking ``determined by
the organization'' and inserting ``proposed by the
stakeholders''; and
[[Page H267]]
(B) by striking paragraph (3); and
(2) 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 information technology industry and other key
stakeholders, with the goal of producing results that
accurately reflect the most relevant and useful information.
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;
``(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, by energy practitioners
certified pursuant to such program.
``(g) Open Data Initiative.--The Secretary, in
collaboration with key stakeholders and 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 in 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 (Mr. Bost). Pursuant to the rule, the
gentleman from Texas (Mr. Olson) and the gentlewoman from California
(Ms. Eshoo) each will control 20 minutes.
The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Texas.
General Leave
Mr. OLSON. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may
have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and
insert extraneous materials in the Record on the bill.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentleman from Texas?
There was no objection.
Mr. OLSON. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, the Federal Government is a major consumer of
electricity, and its information technologies account for a large and
growing percentage of that major use. That is why we need H.R. 306, the
Energy Efficient Government Technology Act, introduced by my good
friend from California (Ms. Eshoo).
This bill creates a process by which Federal agencies can incorporate
the latest efficiency improvements in their information technologies,
including data centers. It also sets out yardsticks to measure
progress.
The result of this bill would be lower Federal energy bills and
taxpayer savings. In addition, the Federal Government can set an
example for energy efficiency that the private sector IT systems would
be able to copy.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Ms. ESHOO. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, I am really pleased to rise today in support of this
legislation, the Energy Efficient Government Technology Act.
I want to thank my colleague and friend, Mr. Olson, for his wonderful
description of the bill and his important support of it. I want to
thank the new chairman of the full committee, Mr. Walden, and the
ranking member of the full committee, Mr. Pallone, for their support,
and my legislative partner, Adam Kinzinger, for his partnership on this
bill.
I hope that this, the 115th Congress, is going to be the magic charm.
I have introduced this bill now in three Congresses, and it passed in
each Congress, but it didn't make it to the President's desk. I hope
this time it will.
The bill is really a very simple one. It is about bringing the
Federal Government's IT and data centers into the 21st century. The
Federal Government is the Nation's largest energy user. I want to say
that again. The Federal Government is our Nation's largest energy user,
and we should lead by example in this area.
By requiring Federal agencies to utilize the best technologies and
energy management strategies, this bill will reduce the government's
energy use. Very importantly, it is going to save taxpayer dollars, and
it is going to also set an example for the private sector.
Today, the world generates more data in 12 hours than was generated
in all of human history prior to 2003.
I can tell by the look on your face, Mr. Speaker, that that takes
your breath away.
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.
In 2005, I offered language in the Energy Policy Act which mandated
an EPA study on the energy use and energy costs of data centers. This
report was then transmitted to Congress in 2007, and today most
Americans 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 more than
2,000 data centers which store everything from Social Security and tax
records to e-books at the Library of Congress.
Several Silicon Valley companies have taken the lead in developing
efficient, sustainable data centers, but we can do much, much more
across the private sector and the government.
The Department of Energy estimates that the 70 billion kilowatt hours
of electricity that are used by U.S. data centers annually could be
slashed in half simply through implementation of best practices and
existing technologies.
This bill, H.R. 306, will drive energy efficiency improvements across
the government's IT and data centers by requiring Federal agencies to,
number one, utilize the best technologies and energy management
strategies; two, formulate specific goals and periodically review their
energy efficiency--it
[[Page H268]]
is very important to track the efficiencies--and, three, make
government center data 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 from implementation.
Mr. Speaker, as I said, I first introduced the legislation in 2013.
It has passed the House by wide margins in each of the last two
Congresses. It is noncontroversial. It is bipartisan. It makes sense. I
want to urge all of my colleagues to support the bill.
I thank my colleagues on a bipartisan basis at the Energy and
Commerce Committee, and I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. OLSON. Mr. Speaker, I join my colleague in trying to spice things
up, so I reserve the balance of my allotted time.
Ms. ESHOO. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from
California (Mr. McNerney), my valued colleague on the committee.
Mr. McNERNEY. Mr. Speaker, I rise to support H.R. 306, the Energy
Efficient Government Technology Act, sponsored by the committee. It is
also bipartisan, as my colleague from California mentioned, sponsored
by Ms. Eshoo and Mr. Kinzinger of Illinois.
H.R. 306 promotes the use of energy efficiency and energy savings
information technologies and practices across the Federal Government,
especially in data centers.
The bill amends the Energy Independence Act of 2007 to require
Federal agencies to coordinate with the OMB, DOE, and EPA in developing
an implementation strategy for the maintenance, purchase, and use of
energy efficiency and energy savings information technology.
Ten percent of Federal electricity is consumed by Federal energy
centers. H.R. 306 aims to keep that at 10 percent or even to reduce it.
The legislation also sets out specific items for consideration in
developing an implementation strategy that requires the establishment
of performance goals for evaluating agencies' efforts. In addition, the
bill would amend the 2007 act to require the DOE and EPA to collaborate
with stakeholders in the implementation of data centers, efficiency
programs, and other measures to improve data center energy efficiency.
Again, the legislation was passed by the House without dissent last
year as stand-alone legislation. I urge my colleagues to support it.
I commend my colleagues Ms. Eshoo and Mr. Kinzinger.
Ms. ESHOO. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
Mr. OLSON. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time.
Mr. Speaker, I have been a naval aviator, a Senate staffer, and a
Member of Congress. In those 20 years, the best leaders I have seen are
ones who lead by example. H.R. 306 makes sure D.C. leads by example. If
we lead, the whole country will follow.
I urge my colleagues to vote ``aye'' on H.R. 306.
Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the
gentleman from Texas (Mr. Olson) that the House suspend the rules and
pass the bill, H.R. 306.
The question was taken; and (two-thirds being in the affirmative) the
rules were suspended and the bill was passed.
A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.
____________________