Energy efficiency improvements in electric motors and drives

The reduction of energy consumption through improvements in energy efficiency has become an important goal for all countries, in order to improve the efficiency of the economy, to increase energy supply security, and to reduce the emissions of CO and other pollutants caused by power· generation. 2 Electric motors use over half of all electricity consumed in developed countries. Typically 60-80% of the electricity which is used in the industrial sector and about 35% of the electricity used in the commercial sector in the European Union is consumed by motors. In industry, a motor consumes an annual quantity of electricity which corresponds to approximately 5 times its purchase price, throughout its whole life of aroun~ 12 to 20 years. Motors are by far the most important type of electric load. They are used in all sectors and in a wide range of applications, namely the following: fans, compressors, pumps, mills, winders, elevators, transports, home appliances, and office equipment, etc. It is their wide use that makes motor drive systems one of the main targets to achieve significant energy savings. As motors are the largest USers of electrical energy, even small efficiency improvements will produce very large energy savings.