As federal agencies grapple with unprecedented data growth and increasing demands for AI-driven insights, the energy footprint of their IT infrastructure has become a critical concern. Compute-intensive processing demands and data storage needs have grown so rapidly that data centers, which once contributed minimally to overall energy use, now represent more than 4% of all U.S. electricity consumption.
Global energy projections only underscore this issue: The International Energy Agency forecasts that data center energy consumption will rise from 500 terawatt hours (TWh) in 2023 to over 800 TWh by 2026 — a growth rate of 17% annually. By then, data centers are expected to consume more energy than France and Germany combined.
With this trajectory, energy efficiency must become a core criterion in federal IT procurement alongside other key factors like cost, performance and security. Including energy in RFPs is essential to sustainably meet government data demands and position agencies to navigate an energy-constrained future.
The growing need for energy efficiency in federal IT procurement
Historically, federal procurement has focused on price, performance, security and capabilities as the primary metrics for awarding IT contracts. However, as large-scale computing requirements grow, energy availability and consumption are emerging as new limiting factors. Current energy production cannot keep pace with these growing demands, and the cost of energy is exceeding that of hardware in many cases — especially given that investing in and building new energy sources is a lengthy process that struggles to keep up with the accelerating need. Without deliberate energy efficiency standards, government agencies risk not only unsustainable energy costs but, more critically, potential outages or blackouts in mission-critical situations — a challenge the industry cannot afford to overlook. As escalating energy demands strain resources, the risk of losing essential computing power and technical enablement in vital operations is significant and must be proactively addressed.
In Ocient’s third annual Beyond Big Data report, “Reaching New Altitudes,” nearly a third of IT and data leaders (31%) reported that reducing energy consumption is a top motivation for upgrading data systems, showing a clear shift in priorities. As federal agencies incorporate energy efficiency in RFPs, it will catalyze a broader shift.
Historically, when the government adopts new procurement standards — whether in cybersecurity, accessibility or sustainability — the entire industry, including the private sector, often follows. The government’s influence as a major buyer sets a standard that ripples across industries, ultimately pushing vendors and organizations to develop more energy-conscious solutions.
New drivers of RFP standards: Energy considerations in federal IT
Today, energy consumption isn’t prioritized in federal IT RFPs, which leads vendors to optimize for performance, often at the expense of prioritizing efficiency. Yet the demand to process and analyze ever-increasing data volumes will only increase the energy burden without a clear strategy.
Including energy efficiency as a core criterion in federal procurement would shift technology advancement across the public sector and into private enterprise. Already, we’ve witnessed how federal standards in areas like cybersecurity and digital accessibility have driven industry-wide advancements, and prioritizing energy efficiency in RFPs has the potential to prompt similar progress.
Energy-efficient solutions have the power to not only help federal agencies meet their requirements for sustainable growth, but also can better align them with broader climate goals. Including energy metrics in RFPs benefits agencies by reducing future energy costs and securing stable energy access while also lowering carbon emissions — an outcome increasingly relevant as both public and private sectors pursue sustainable data operations.
Understanding the energy demands of data and AI workloads
Modern data storage and processing are energy-intensive, and the rise of AI/ML further compounds these demands. These technologies require substantial computing power, pushing government data centers to energy consumption levels on par with the most demanding operations globally. In areas like Loudoun County, Virginia — a region with a high concentration of government data centers — power limitations have already restricted new data center development.
The private sector faces similar challenges as companies look to grow while contending with energy limitations. Unlike internal factors, such as product demand, energy is an external constraint: Even the most innovative AI systems and advanced computing solutions will be limited by the energy required to operate them. Quantum computing, for example, is a promising technology for enhancing computational power and data processing capabilities, but comes with its own tremendous energy needs. Federal agencies are now encountering a similar balancing act, as their data demands require solutions that are not only powerful but also energy-resilient.
Key strategies for integrating energy efficiency into federal procurement
Federal agencies can proactively address energy consumption in several ways:
Prioritize energy-efficient data architectures: Investing in data management solutions designed for energy efficiency can yield substantial cost and performance benefits. These architectures reduce peak energy loads and optimize computing during off-peak hours.
Invest in renewable energy sources: For agencies with high energy demands, renewable energy sources offer a reliable way to mitigate grid dependence and reduce long-term costs. Data centers powered by renewables support federal sustainability goals while ensuring energy resilience.
Optimize data storage methods: Implementing tiered storage systems or more advanced energy-saving configurations, such as solid-state drives, can contribute to significant energy reductions.
Demand energy metrics in RFPs and deployments: Federal agencies can catalyze industry-wide improvements by specifying energy metrics in RFPs. Requiring vendors to transparently report energy usage, peak energy loads and time-shift capabilities encourages them to prioritize energy-efficient solutions. This not only meets current federal needs but helps build a foundation of energy efficiency across the IT sector.
Trends in energy-efficiency and spending constraints
The push for energy efficiency must also take into account budgetary realities. Survey findings from the latest Beyond Big Data report indicate that 64% of enterprise leaders report “surprising” cloud costs as a top factor affecting budget predictability. This rise in unpredictable costs means that energy-efficient solutions, which also lower overall expenses, will increasingly appeal to agencies operating under tight budget constraints.
A phased approach allows federal agencies to adopt energy-efficient upgrades gradually, focusing on systems that yield the highest energy savings for their cost. Moreover, selecting solutions that are flexible in scale can help manage immediate energy needs while allowing for future expansion within existing budgets.
Looking ahead: The future of federal IT and energy efficiency
As agencies invest in solutions critical for their IT infrastructures, including energy efficiency in RFPs represents both a challenge and an opportunity. Shifting procurement strategies to require efficiency incorporated alongside performance will change longstanding frameworks, but encouragingly, the IT industry is already adjusting resources toward building energy-efficient computing solutions. The first wave of improvements could yield exponential gains, with some systems expected to become up to ten times more energy-efficient over the next decade.
Data volume growth remains an obstacle, however, as it continues to expand annually. For government agencies, this necessitates seeking energy-efficient solutions proactively. Federal procurement leaders have a unique opportunity to influence the market by including energy efficiency in RFPs, requiring transparent energy metrics and reporting for their IT infrastructure, and prompting vendors to adopt greener practices that benefit both budgets and the environment. By making energy efficiency part of their procurement standards, agencies can drive the industry toward more sustainable data management, ensuring long-term operational resilience.
Rethinking federal RFPs in the age of data and AI: Why energy efficiency must be part of the equation
Energy efficiency must become a core criterion in federal IT procurement alongside other key factors like cost, performance and security.
As federal agencies grapple with unprecedented data growth and increasing demands for AI-driven insights, the energy footprint of their IT infrastructure has become a critical concern. Compute-intensive processing demands and data storage needs have grown so rapidly that data centers, which once contributed minimally to overall energy use, now represent more than 4% of all U.S. electricity consumption.
Global energy projections only underscore this issue: The International Energy Agency forecasts that data center energy consumption will rise from 500 terawatt hours (TWh) in 2023 to over 800 TWh by 2026 — a growth rate of 17% annually. By then, data centers are expected to consume more energy than France and Germany combined.
With this trajectory, energy efficiency must become a core criterion in federal IT procurement alongside other key factors like cost, performance and security. Including energy in RFPs is essential to sustainably meet government data demands and position agencies to navigate an energy-constrained future.
The growing need for energy efficiency in federal IT procurement
Historically, federal procurement has focused on price, performance, security and capabilities as the primary metrics for awarding IT contracts. However, as large-scale computing requirements grow, energy availability and consumption are emerging as new limiting factors. Current energy production cannot keep pace with these growing demands, and the cost of energy is exceeding that of hardware in many cases — especially given that investing in and building new energy sources is a lengthy process that struggles to keep up with the accelerating need. Without deliberate energy efficiency standards, government agencies risk not only unsustainable energy costs but, more critically, potential outages or blackouts in mission-critical situations — a challenge the industry cannot afford to overlook. As escalating energy demands strain resources, the risk of losing essential computing power and technical enablement in vital operations is significant and must be proactively addressed.
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In Ocient’s third annual Beyond Big Data report, “Reaching New Altitudes,” nearly a third of IT and data leaders (31%) reported that reducing energy consumption is a top motivation for upgrading data systems, showing a clear shift in priorities. As federal agencies incorporate energy efficiency in RFPs, it will catalyze a broader shift.
Historically, when the government adopts new procurement standards — whether in cybersecurity, accessibility or sustainability — the entire industry, including the private sector, often follows. The government’s influence as a major buyer sets a standard that ripples across industries, ultimately pushing vendors and organizations to develop more energy-conscious solutions.
New drivers of RFP standards: Energy considerations in federal IT
Today, energy consumption isn’t prioritized in federal IT RFPs, which leads vendors to optimize for performance, often at the expense of prioritizing efficiency. Yet the demand to process and analyze ever-increasing data volumes will only increase the energy burden without a clear strategy.
Including energy efficiency as a core criterion in federal procurement would shift technology advancement across the public sector and into private enterprise. Already, we’ve witnessed how federal standards in areas like cybersecurity and digital accessibility have driven industry-wide advancements, and prioritizing energy efficiency in RFPs has the potential to prompt similar progress.
Energy-efficient solutions have the power to not only help federal agencies meet their requirements for sustainable growth, but also can better align them with broader climate goals. Including energy metrics in RFPs benefits agencies by reducing future energy costs and securing stable energy access while also lowering carbon emissions — an outcome increasingly relevant as both public and private sectors pursue sustainable data operations.
Understanding the energy demands of data and AI workloads
Modern data storage and processing are energy-intensive, and the rise of AI/ML further compounds these demands. These technologies require substantial computing power, pushing government data centers to energy consumption levels on par with the most demanding operations globally. In areas like Loudoun County, Virginia — a region with a high concentration of government data centers — power limitations have already restricted new data center development.
The private sector faces similar challenges as companies look to grow while contending with energy limitations. Unlike internal factors, such as product demand, energy is an external constraint: Even the most innovative AI systems and advanced computing solutions will be limited by the energy required to operate them. Quantum computing, for example, is a promising technology for enhancing computational power and data processing capabilities, but comes with its own tremendous energy needs. Federal agencies are now encountering a similar balancing act, as their data demands require solutions that are not only powerful but also energy-resilient.
Key strategies for integrating energy efficiency into federal procurement
Federal agencies can proactively address energy consumption in several ways:
Read more: Commentary
Trends in energy-efficiency and spending constraints
The push for energy efficiency must also take into account budgetary realities. Survey findings from the latest Beyond Big Data report indicate that 64% of enterprise leaders report “surprising” cloud costs as a top factor affecting budget predictability. This rise in unpredictable costs means that energy-efficient solutions, which also lower overall expenses, will increasingly appeal to agencies operating under tight budget constraints.
A phased approach allows federal agencies to adopt energy-efficient upgrades gradually, focusing on systems that yield the highest energy savings for their cost. Moreover, selecting solutions that are flexible in scale can help manage immediate energy needs while allowing for future expansion within existing budgets.
Looking ahead: The future of federal IT and energy efficiency
As agencies invest in solutions critical for their IT infrastructures, including energy efficiency in RFPs represents both a challenge and an opportunity. Shifting procurement strategies to require efficiency incorporated alongside performance will change longstanding frameworks, but encouragingly, the IT industry is already adjusting resources toward building energy-efficient computing solutions. The first wave of improvements could yield exponential gains, with some systems expected to become up to ten times more energy-efficient over the next decade.
Data volume growth remains an obstacle, however, as it continues to expand annually. For government agencies, this necessitates seeking energy-efficient solutions proactively. Federal procurement leaders have a unique opportunity to influence the market by including energy efficiency in RFPs, requiring transparent energy metrics and reporting for their IT infrastructure, and prompting vendors to adopt greener practices that benefit both budgets and the environment. By making energy efficiency part of their procurement standards, agencies can drive the industry toward more sustainable data management, ensuring long-term operational resilience.
Chris Gladwin is CEO of Ocient.
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