The U.S. House of Representatives overwhelmingly approved a bill requiring a federal study of ways to improve the energy efficiency of servers and data centers.

The legislation, backed by IT vendors and approved by a 414-4 House vote, now goes to the Senate. If enacted, it would require the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to recommend incentives and voluntary programs to cut power consumption at data centers in the federal government and the private sector.

Rep. Michael J. Rogers (R-Mich.), the bill's sponsor, said that he hopes the EPA study will build support for energy efficiency ratings for servers modeled on the Energy Star ratings for home appliances. It may also lead to incentives for users who buy energy-efficient servers and to rules governing servers bought by federal agencies, Rogers said.