Today President Bush signed an important bill for the tech industry - HR5646 - today.

Big pat on the back to Sun as I know we certainly helped inspire/propose this bill to legislators, working with others in the tech industry to make sure it was a single voice.  Now the EPA has been directed to study and promote energy efficiency in servers.

HR 5646 was one of about 20 bills the President signed yesterday. 

Under the bill the EPA study and recommendations are due 180 days from enactment, so mid/late June.

There is also a WSJ Story that is subscription only here

Today, large companies spend 15% to 20% of their data center's operating budget on power and cooling, and by 2009 businesses in the U.S. will spend twice as much for power and cooling as they did to buy the data centers' server hardware in the first place. This trend makes it more apparent now than ever that energy efficient and environmentally responsible computing will no longer be just an option, but rather an imperative needed for companies to remain competitive.

This measure offers an opportunity for the Environmental Protection Agency to examine the environmental impact of data centers, explore ways to reduce energy demand, and encourage the adoption of more energy efficient server technology. The mandate will serve as an important step toward promoting not only more environmentally responsible computing for government and industry, but also better fiscal health as a result of the tremendous savings possible through more energy efficient technologies. It is important that we take action now to promote these goals to help keep both our energy use and costs under better control. This, in turn, will help drive U.S. competitiveness and economic growth.

Sun is a leader in energy efficient computing technologies and is committed to reducing global climate change through innovation. Our Eco-Responsibility initiative is focused on reducing environmental impact by designing products that require less power, manufacturing products with less harmful materials, and encouraging reuse and recycling in our industry. We look forward to working with leaders in the 110th Congress to develop other legislative initiatives that will encourage government and industry to adopt more energy efficient and environmentally responsible policies and best practices for information technology.