MOTOR SUMMIT 08 - IEA 4E - Electric Motor Systems Annex

So what does this mean for policies that will influence the efficiency of motors and
motor driven systems? Much but not enough. Electric motors are estimated to account
for ~6’000 TWh of electricity use globally, approximately ~40% of the total, and
give rise to some 4’400 Mt of CO2 emissions. Applying state of the art efficiency
standards for new electric motors could avoid up to 475 TWh of electricity demand
and 300 Mt of CO2 emissions by 2030. Savings potentials are much less clear from
the optimisation of electric motor driven systems but are thought to be approximately
20 - 30% or roughly 10% of global electricity consumption. This is an astonishingly
high figure and far greater than current global average production for renewable electricity
from other than large-hydroelectric sources. It is also much cheaper and less
controversial to implement than other high profile low carbon electricity solutions
such as nuclear power or carbon capture and storage. Yet all these options benefit
from far greater public recognition and public policy stimuli than is true for enhanced
energy efficiency in electric motors. The awareness of the general public and of policy
makers of the high proportion of electricity used in electric motor driven systems
is very small and awareness of the savings potential is even lower.
Nonetheless many new policy initiatives are beginning to emerge and bear fruit. At
the 2007 Motor Summit I mentioned that the ISO were considering developing a new
international standard to address energy use in industrial energy using systems – this
process is now fully underway and is reported to be progressing well. I also mentioned
that several IEA member economies were considering developing a new IEA
cooperative Implementing Agreement that would address Energy Efficiency in Electrical
End-Use Equipment and that might include an annex addressing electric motors.
This has now been launched and motors are one of the key annexes. More importantly
still is the growth in progress in energy efficiency policy in this area. The European
Commission has announced its intention of adopting energy efficiency standards
for a wide variety of electric motors as has Japan. The USA has adopted even
more stringent requirements than hitherto and several other economies are advancing
down the same route. Meanwhile, as part of its work for the G8, the IEA has been
developing high-level policy recommendations on energy efficiency. At this year’s G8
summit in Toyako, Japan, 25 such recommendations covering almost all energyusing
sectors were proposed. The summit communiqué signed by all the leaders of
the G8 pledged the G8 to maximize implementation of these recommendations,
which in the case of motors proposed that mandatory energy efficiency standards
should be adopted in line with international best practice but also proposed that governments
should examine barriers to the optimisation of energy efficiency in electric
motor driven systems and design and implement comprehensive policy portfolios
aimed at overcoming such barriers. Other recommendations addressed policies to
stimulate the adoption of enhanced energy management in industry and hence implicitly
address motor driven systems.
The IEA secretariat is now working with G8 economies to follow their implementation
of these measures and is also working with other IEA member economies and nonmembers
in a similar vein. Much still remains to be done, however, to both flesh-out
the barriers and appropriate policy responses to the adoption of efficient motor driven
systems and to substantially increase awareness of the topic among public and private
sector decision makers. Helping achieve this is a mission the Motor Summit
should consider.
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