Vestal Tutterow

The China Motor Systems Energy Conservation Program: Establishing the Foundation for Systems Energy Efficiency

Industrial electric motor systems consume more than 600 billion kWh annually, accounting for more than 50% of China’s electricity use. There are large opportunities to improve the efficiency of motor systems. Electric motors in China are approximately 2-4% less efficient on average than motors in the U.S. and Canada. Fans and pumps in China are approximately 3—5% less efficient than in developed countries. More optimized design, including appropriate sizing and use of speed control strategies, can reduce energy use by 20% or more in many motor-driven system applications. Unfortunately, few Chinese enterprises use or even know about these energy-saving practices. Opportunities for motor system improvements are probably greater in China than in the U.S. or Europe.

Pump Systems Matter — part 1

In an effort to encourage US pump system specifiers to move away from purchasing decisions based on lowest initial cost towards one based on optimum life cycle costs, the Hydraulic Institute introduced the Pump Systems Matter ™ initiative. In the first of a two-part article, Robert Asdal , Vestal Tutterow and Aimee T. McKane explain the background and the need to focus on the pumping system and not just the pump.

Pumping systems efficiency improvements flow straight to thebottom line

Industrial electrical motors account for two-thirds of theUS industrial electricity usage. Pumping systems account for an estimated25 percent of this electrical motor consumption, while pumping systems inuse in US chemical facilities consume over 37,000 GWh/year, based on USDepartment of Energy (DOE) data. A study funded by DOE estimatespotential energy savings within the chemical industry alone ofapproximately 20 percent, representing an energy savings of over 7,500GWh/year, through industrial pumping systems optimization using existing,proven techniques and technologies. This energy savings potentialrepresents significant cost savings potential for industrial facilities.Additionally, it has been shown that energy efficiency improvements toindustrial systems usually provide improved reliability, improvedproductivity, and reduced environmental costs.