Four years ago, we reported on new federal motor efficiency standards that were set to take effect throughout the industry in our August 2010 cover story, “The New Era of Electric Motor Requirements.” That story pointed out how the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 would now require general-purpose motors in the 1-hp to 200-hp category, as well as a few other types of motors, to be manufactured to specific minimum efficiency standards. In the government’s eyes, these NEMA Premium designated motors have the potential to substantially reduce energy use in many industries and market segments.
Four years later, we once again see the government stepping in and implementing new motor efficiency standards. But this time, the implementation strategy is based on a new set of directions. Rather than ratcheting up the efficiency level a notch or two for that same group of NEMA Premium motors, the Department of Energy decided this time around it was best to cast a wider net and expand the scope of motors covered under these rules.
This latest ruling was announced in May and will take effect in June 2016. It includes additional NEMA and IEC design designations as well as specialty motor types, such as immersible, encapsulated, vertical, gear, and totally enclosed non-ventilated. Once again, in an effort to keep you well informed on this topic, we highlight this important industry development in this month’s cover story written by Tom Zind, “Trawling, Not Squeezing, for Motor Efficiency,” which starts on page 18.
The reasoning behind this latest ruling makes a lot of sense to me. If the government had opted to push efficiency rates even higher on that initial group of motors, it would have created quite a few problems for motor manufacturers and end-users alike. For one, the size of a motor would have most likely grown longer to a point that the frame size jumped to a new level. Motor manufacturers would have faced major retooling projects at a cost of millions of dollars. This also would have created a number of additional problems for end-users trying to replace worn out motors with new units. In addition, it would create a financial burden on the end-user since the cost of a higher efficiency unit would naturally grow larger. Furthermore, these factors would have added more stress to the lives of those individuals already having difficulty trying to work through “repair or replace” scenarios for their existing motor inventory.
I believe these latest developments on the motor standards front will eventually reduce energy consumption levels at many locations across the country. I view this as a positive outcome of the new regulations and a step in the right direction to better management of overall U.S. energy consumption levels.
About the Author
MIKE EBY
Senior Director of Content - Buildings
Mike received a B.S. degree in electrical engineering in 1986 and an M.S. degree in engineering management in 1994 from the University of South Florida. He is currently a member of the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA), Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), Association of Energy Engineers (AEE), and American Society of Business Press Editors (ASBPE).
Prior to joining EC&M as Editor-in-Chief in September 1999, Mike served as the Executive Editor of Transmission & Distribution World magazine for five years. Before joining Penton Media, Mike held various engineering titles within the Substation and Transmission Engineering Groups at Florida Power & Light Co., Juno Beach, FL.
Mike was awarded the Southeastern Electric Exchange (SEE) Excellence in Engineering Award in 1993 and has received numerous regional and national editorial awards for his reporting and writing work in the electrical market.