Green Technology: More-Efficient Motors

Recent legislation forces motors to use electricity in a more miserly way. Despite media hoopla about energy- efficient lighting, the real opportunity to save energy for many businesses and even for homes is in motors. Motorized equipment accounts for 64% of the electricity U.S. manufacturers consume. The Federal government began mandating energy efficiency for motors in 1992. Motor-efficiency standards (MEPS) went into effect five years later. However, MEPS only covered general-purpose ac motors. Specifically, the Energy Policy Act, or Epact, which took effect in 1997, listed minimum efficiency levels for polyphase acinduction motors between 1 and 200 hp having rigid mounting bases. The regulations stuck to basemount motors because "regulators felt this was the most common configuration and they didn't want to get into specialty motors," says . Motor Product Manager John Malinowski. "It was a starting point. Industry anticipated follow-up specs but they never happened." That situation changed last year with the enactment of the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007. The Act applies to motors made after Dec. 19, 2010. It boosts mandated efficiency levels for motors covered under the old Act and applies standards to seven motor types formerly excluded. Motor makers say this fills a gap in the original legislation. "The 1992 standards missed a lot of common motors throughout industry," says Baldor's Malinowski. "One example is round-body Cface motors which are the most common type for conveyor systems. (In motor-mount parlance, a C-face attachment lets a gearbox or pump connect to a motor.) Pump motors are another example. For some industries they are the main source of electricity use. These represent literally millions of dollars of annual motor sales that the old Act missed." With the new Act taking effect in less than three years, OEMs should start designing for new efficiency levels today, even