Anna Eshoo: “I thank my colleague, Mr. Rogers from the Energy and Commerce Committee, for the work he has done on this bill. I am…”

“I thank my colleague, Mr. Rogers from the Energy and Commerce Committee, for the work he has done on this bill. I am proud to be the Democratic lead on it. I think it is a very important step for the Congress to take. Obviously, I urge all of my colleagues to vote for it. The bill, as you have heard, directs the EPA to study the energy efficiency of computer servers and data centers within our government, the United States Government, as well as the private sector. Data centers are facilities that house large amounts of electronic equipment, primarily computer servers that handle data for large and complex operations which continue to grow daily in our country. These facilities can occupy an entire room, an entire floor, or an entire building. According to industry estimates, the average annual electricity cost of running a single data center is about $6 million a year, and the cumulative energy costs for these centers is about $3.3 billion a year. So the energy demands of these operations are going to continue to grow. They are going to continue to expand as the market for servers is expected to expand by about 50 percent over the next 5 years. And of course the by-word of this Congress and I think future Congresses is going to be energy conservation, energy conservation, energy conservation.…”