September 9, 2019 - Issue: Vol. 165, No. 143 — Daily Edition116th Congress (2019 - 2020) - 1st Session

[Pages H7540-H7541]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




               ENERGY EFFICIENT GOVERNMENT TECHNOLOGY ACT

  Mr. RUSH. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill 
(H.R. 1420) 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. 1420

       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 at or for federally owned and 
     operated facilities, 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 at or for federally 
     owned and operated facilities.
       ``(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, 2019, 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
       (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 4 years after the date 
     of enactment of the Energy Efficient Government Technology 
     Act, make available to the public an update to the report of 
     the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory entitled `United 
     States Data Center Energy Usage Report' and dated June, 2016 
     (prepared as 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 includes--
       ``(1) a comparison and gap analysis of the estimates and 
     projections contained in the report with new data regarding 
     the period from 2015 through 2019;
       ``(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 2025.
       ``(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 
     federally owned and operated 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 relating to energy usage at federally owned and 
     operated data centers, 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.''.

     SEC. 4. DETERMINATION OF BUDGETARY EFFECTS.

       The budgetary effects of this Act, for the purpose of 
     complying with the Statutory

[[Page H7541]]

     Pay-As-You-Go Act of 2010, shall be determined by reference 
     to the latest statement titled ``Budgetary Effects of PAYGO 
     Legislation'' for this Act, submitted for printing in the 
     Congressional Record by the Chairman of the House Budget 
     Committee, provided that such statement has been submitted 
     prior to the vote on passage.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from 
Illinois (Mr. Rush) and the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Upton) each 
will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Illinois.


                             General Leave

  Mr. RUSH. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may 
have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and 
include extraneous material on H.R. 1420.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from Illinois?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. RUSH. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself as much time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, I thank my friends and colleagues on the Energy and 
Commerce Committee, Ms. Eshoo from the great State of California and 
Mr. Kinzinger from my home State of Illinois, for working in a 
bipartisan manner to bring H.R. 1420, the Energy Efficient Government 
Technology Act, to the floor today.
  Mr. Speaker, the Federal Government is the largest single consumer of 
energy in our Nation. As we continue to combat the climate crisis, Mr. 
Speaker, we must use every tool at our disposal.
  This bill will help modernize the Federal Government's IT and data 
centers by requiring Federal agencies to employ the latest technologies 
and energy management strategies. In doing so, Mr. Speaker, the bill 
will reduce the government's energy use, thus saving taxpayers millions 
of dollars.
  Mr. Speaker, technological advances have allowed us to generate more 
data today than many thought possible just several years ago. This 
data, which often includes highly sensitive information, is stored in 
Federal data centers that consume a significant amount of our Nation's 
energy. The bipartisan legislation offered by my colleagues will reduce 
the energy consumed by Federal data centers by requiring the Department 
of Energy and the Environmental Protection Agency to collaborate with 
stakeholders on efficiency programs at data centers all across our 
Nation.
  Mr. Speaker, I commend my colleagues, Ms. Eshoo and Mr. Kinzinger, 
for their work on this bill, and I encourage all my colleagues to 
support it.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. UPTON. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself as much time as I might 
consume.
  Mr. Speaker, I thank Chairman Rush, the distinguished chairman of the 
Energy Subcommittee, as well as Mr. Pallone and Mr. Walden, for 
bringing this bill to the floor.
  As the use of digital technology expands across the Federal 
Government and the private economy, there is a growing demand for 
energy to power our data centers, which are at the very center of this 
digital economy. With this growing energy demand comes, in fact, the 
growing need to identify areas to use energy more efficiently.
  Introduced by Ms. Eshoo and cosponsored by a number of Energy and 
Commerce Committee members on both sides of the aisle, Mr. Kinzinger, 
Mr. Welch, and Mr. Tonko, H.R. 1420 updates an important provision of 
the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 to increase 
stakeholder involvement in the work to identify metrics and the best 
practices to improve the energy efficiency of data centers.
  It also updates provisions to better track Federal programs to 
increase energy efficiency across the Federal Government's information 
technology. This is a practical update to an important program that no 
one should oppose.
  Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support H.R. 1420, and I yield 
back the balance of my time.
  Mr. RUSH. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  Ms. ESHOO. Madam Speaker, I'm pleased to rise today in support of my 
legislation, the Energy Efficient Government Technology Act, and I 
thank Chairman Pallone and my legislative partner Congressman Adam 
Kinzinger for their strong support of this bill.
  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 21th 
century economy, but they can be highly energy inefficient.
  I first wrote legislation in 2005 requiring a report to Congress on 
the federal government's energy use and costs of data centers. At that 
time, I had to explain to colleagues what a data center was. Today, we 
routinely hear about them and most people understand that data centers 
are a critical part of our national infrastructure and are found in 
nearly every sector of our economy.
  The rising importance of data centers in our everyday lives often 
goes unnoticed, but data centers now consume an estimated 2 percent of 
all electricity in the United States each year. Over the last decade, 
data center energy use has quadrupled and will continue to grow as our 
lives become increasingly tied to the digital world.
  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. As the nation's largest landowner, employer, 
and energy user, the federal government should lead by example in this 
field.
  The Energy Efficient Government Technology Act requires government 
agencies to develop plans to implement best practices, purchase more 
energy efficient information and communications technologies, and 
submit to periodic evaluation of their data centers for energy 
efficiency.
  Importantly, the bill also requires government agencies to formulate 
specific performance goals and a means to calculate overall cost 
savings from improvements to energy efficiency.
  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 the private sector and government.
  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 over 10 years.
  This legislation will not increase government spending. Instead, it 
has the potential to save taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars in 
reduced energy costs in the future, while setting an example for the 
private sector to reduce energy usage at data centers.
  The Energy Efficient Government Technology Act passed the House by 
voice vote in the previous Congress and has strong support from both 
energy efficiency advocates and industry groups, including the American 
Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy, the Alliance to Save Energy, 
the Information Technology Industry Council, and the U.S. Green 
Building Council, among others.
  I urge my colleagues to support this bipartisan legislation.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the 
gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Rush) that the House suspend the rules and 
pass the bill, H.R. 1420, as amended.
  The question was taken.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. In the opinion of the Chair, two-thirds 
being in the affirmative, the ayes have it.
  Mr. RUSH. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.
  The yeas and nays were ordered.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to clause 8 of rule XX, further 
proceedings on this motion will be postponed.

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