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Successfully Promoting Premium-Efficiency Motors
(Continued) 
The nation's energy crisis is not news. Since the 1970s, industries and consumers alike have been encouraged to look for ways to cut back on their energy expenditures. However, the implementation of the Energy Policy Act of 1992, which became effective in 1999, caused the motor industry, in particular, to take a closer look at its practices. Since then, a surge of programs such as the Motor Decisions MatterSM campaign and NEMA PremiumTM, an effort of the National Electrical Manufacturers Association, along with a host of state and regional incentive programs have been established. Many of these programs represent a rare consensus — among government agencies, the energy efficiency community and the motor industry — that the use of premium-efficiency motors is a significant step toward reducing overall energy demand.
Ted Jones, industrial program manager at the Consortium for Energy Efficiency (CEE), a nonprofit organization that promotes the use of energy-efficient products, explains part of the motivation behind this rare consensus. “An understanding evolved among all the stakeholders that there was an opportunity to move forward in the area of premium efficiency and that they needed to work together. It was a real opportunity for the motor industry and the energy efficiency community to take a leadership role.” 
Before a large scale promotion of premium-efficiency motors could be undertaken, the definition of precisely what made a motor premium-efficient needed to be established. In the summer of 2001, CEE and NEMA worked together to devise specific guidelines to establish just that. Similar to the Energy Star® program designed for consumers shopping for energy-efficient appliances, NEMA PremiumTM allows the buyer of a motor to easily choose the most efficient model for his use.
Depending on motor size and type, premium-efficiency specifications are generally 1-2 percent higher than federal minimum requirements. Since motors typically consume 10-25 times their purchase price in electricity each year, even small increases in efficiency can add up to large energy savings. According to Jones, “NEMA Premium was a negotiated level between CEE and NEMA. The result was a common, efficiency specification that accommodated motor manufacturers’ and energy-efficiency concerns. We support it, the manufacturers support it, and consumers support it. It is a win-win-win proposition,” he said. “The nice thing about NEMA Premium is that the person who actually has to go out and buy the motor doesn’t have to figure out what the efficiency of a 5-hp motor should be to be premium efficient, he just needs to say two words - NEMA Premium.” (Click here for the new, NEMA Premium efficiency levels.) |
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