House committee advances data center study bill
The House Science, Space and Technology Committee approved a federal bill, H.R. 9372, to standardize how the government studies data centers' energy and water use. This legislation directs the Department of Energy and NIST to create reporting standards and best practices for AI data centers' resource consumption.
The House Science, Space and Technology Committee has approved H.R. 9372, the Data Infrastructure Energy Measurement and Standards Act, in a 34-1 vote. This legislation, led by Rep. Suhas Subramanyam (D-Va.) and opposed only by Rep. Daniel Webster (R-Fla.), aims to standardize how the federal government studies the energy and water consumption of artificial intelligence data centers.
The bill directs the Department of Energy and the National Institute of Standards and Technology to develop standards and best practices for reporting resource usage by these facilities. Rep. Subramanyam emphasized the necessity of this measure, stating that without precise measurement, constituents hosting these large data centers cannot effectively manage their impact. The initiative seeks to provide crucial data to understand and address the environmental footprint of the expanding data center industry.