Eshoo Data Center Efficiency Legislation Passes House
March 5th, 2014
WASHINGTON, D.C.—Rep. Anna G. Eshoo (D-Palo Alto), Ranking Member of the Communications and Technology Subcommittee and senior member of the Energy and Commerce Committee, issued the following statement on House passage of her bipartisan legislation to increase efficiency at federal data centers. The legislation passed as part of a larger energy efficiency measure, the Energy Efficiency Improvement Act of 2014.
“Today, the world generates more data in two days than has been generated in all of human history prior to 2003,” Eshoo said. “This data must be stored and processed at vast data centers which are highly energy inefficient, wasting money and precious energy resources. My legislation will save the federal government energy and money by requiring the use of energy-efficient and energy-saving technologies, specifically in federal data centers. I’m very pleased to see this important policy pass, and I look forward to its swift consideration in the Senate.”
Background
In late 2012, the New York Times reported that “data centers can waste 90 percent or more of the electricity they pull off the grid,” running their facilities at maximum capacity around the clock out of fear of a surge in demand that could crash the system. As the nation’s largest landowner, employer, and energy user, Eshoo’s data center legislation makes the federal government a leader in improving the energy efficiency of its data centers.
Federal data centers make up 10 percent of all U.S. data center energy use, which translated to an estimated $600 million in energy costs in 2010 alone, the last year for which data is available. The Natural Resources Defense Council estimates that implementation of new technologies and best practices could reduce the government’s data center energy bill by 50 percent or more, saving the taxpayers $300 million annually.
The rising importance of data centers in the everyday lives of Americans often goes unnoticed, but data centers now consume an estimated 2 percent of all electricity in the United States. Over the last decade, data center energy use has quadrupled and will continue to grow as we become increasingly tied to the digital world.
Specifically, the Energy Efficient Government Technology Act would:
- Require federal agencies to coordinate with Office of Management and Budget in developing plans to purchase and use more energy efficient technologies, including periodic evaluation of federal data centers for energy efficiency.
- Require an update to a 2007 Report to Congress originally requested by Rep. Eshoo that has formed the baseline for data center energy efficiency since its release, but is in need of an update.
- Create an Open Data Initiative for the purpose of making information on federal data center energy usage available to innovators.
This legislation will not increase government spending. Instead, it has the potential to save taxpayers over a billion dollars in reduced energy costs in the future, while setting an example for the private sector to reduce energy usage at data centers. According to the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy, measures to increase federal data center efficiency could save $1.64 billion over the next 15 years.
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