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Print ArticleUsed in a wide range of applications to power a variety of equipment, electric motors consume more than half the electricity produced in the United States. And in industrial settings alone, motors account for nearly 75 percent of power consumption.
According to a recent report from the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation, a forum designed to promote trade and economic cooperation among countries bordering the Pacific Ocean, adopting existing well-established energy-conserving technologies and products would result in savings of approximately 11 to 18 percent, or 75 to 122 kWh of electric power annually, which would also mean saving the U.S. $3.6 to 5.8 billion in electricity costs.
Through APEC, the United States aims to create opportunities for sustainable growth by pushing consistently for accelerated trade and investment liberalization, while promoting hands on trade facilitation projects and capacity building.
The report goes on to say that while implementing new equipment would require certain costs, these would generally be recovered within three years. In addition, the savings in electric power will greatly slow or reduce the need to build or invest in power plants and generating facilities.
Set in motion more than a decade ago, a nationwide push towards energy-efficient motors began with the Energy Policy Act of 1992, or EPAct. This was the first major step of a leading industrial country towards mandatory electrical energy savings within the industrial sector. This requires that motors manufactured or imported for sale in the USA after 1997, whether as a sole component or another piece of equipment, meet minimum efficiency levels.
While motors that met or exceeded EPAct standards were in the marketplace long before the law came into effect, the EPAct made compliance with these standards for all the manufactured motors that fell under the EPAct blanket of criteria. Nominal efficiencies of these EPAct motors are between one and four percentage points higher than those of standard efficiency motors.
