Without a carbon tax or anything that penalizes fossil fuel consumption, the federal government has little ability to influence how much energy a data center uses. But it is trying.

In a blog post late Tuesday, the White House announced that 19 data centers have agreed to join a voluntary program to become 20% more energy efficient by 2020.

There was a reason for the lack of fanfare: The list was padded by the government.

This is a list that could have been populated with thousands of data centers, which collectively used 100 billion kWh last year — about 2% of U.S. electric use.

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