[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.

                          ____________________